Business Feature of the Week

What does one do when the bottom begins to fall out in the oil and gas industry? Go out and start a new venture.

For Dave St. Martin, that is exactly what he did. St. Martin was born and raised in Whitecourt and owned a company servicing the oilfield sector until he sold in 2017. It took some time, but when opportunity knocked for his next business venture, he jumped on it and purchased the old carwash and building formerly owned by the Dynamic Group located at the bottom of Dahl Drive.

Saints Car Wash was created, but not without a lot of hard work and changes to the building and systems to get it in top working order. Work commenced in January 2019 to the interior of the car wash and three months later, the doors opened for customers. St. Martin spent every day and evening revamping the interior with new vacuums, blowers, and curtains, redoing a few of the walls inside and replacing the lighting with LED lights. “I had a car wash repair company help out. There was a lot to do to get it back in order. Three pumps had to be replaced along with other replacement parts within the pump room,” St. Martin said.

Saints Car Wash is now fully operational with an eight-bay wand car wash, quality soap, and tri-coloured wax. The wax comes out as a foam instead of a liquid. One of the more noticeable features of the car wash is that the water pressure from the wands has been increased giving customers optimum performance.

St. Martin, along with his sons, Derrick and Spencer, share the work responsibilities of the business. Hours are from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Methods of payment can be cash, credit card, gift card, or fleet card, and wash packages can be purchased.