By james art
By Sim Posey and Barnett Wright | Birmingham Times
After being in business for more than three decades, a major part of the historic downtown Fourth Avenue business has closed.
Etheridge Senior Car Wash at 1600 3rd Ave N closed Oct. 25, leaving a void downtown and also in the hearts of longtime customers.
“After 31 wonderful years, we regret to announce that we will be closing our doors,” April Pritchett-White and Ashley Pritchett, co-owners/operators of Etheridge Senior Car Wash, wrote earlier this month in a joint statement on their social business page. “The evolving economy and hiring challenges make it increasingly difficult for us to continue to operate at the level of excellence you expect.”
“I am grateful to all of our loyal customers who have supported our family and business over the years. It was amazing to serve them and I will always cherish the memories and relationships we built,” Ashley told The Birmingham Times. “I’m sad. It’s been in my family since I was little. …”
“I’m going to miss the customers,” April said. “Serving the community, helping people who were just getting on their feet. We’ve been going there (to a car wash) since we were little. There are a lot of memories.”
Last week, many longtime customers stopped by downtown for one last car wash and detail.
“I’ve been coming to the car wash for about 10 years. I will miss the quality of work,” said Daija Bell of Birmingham. “Every time I left … my car looked brand new. There was constant attention to detail. I will also miss the community. You never know who you’ll meet there. You can connect with different people from the Birmingham community and make many connections and relationships.
Anita Davis of Birmingham said she is not sure where she will drive her car now. “What are we going to do?” she asked. “They do such a good job. It’s like you just bought your car from the showroom… We come here all the time, my whole family.”
Located in the historic Black Business District, which stretches along 15th to 18th Streets north and from Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. off Second Avenue North, the car wash was first opened in 1993 by their grandfather, Willie T. Etheridge, who died in 2003.
As of 2017, Etheridge’s granddaughters continue to run the business following the death of their mother, Felecia Etheridge-Dovey.
“My mom passed away at the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 5th, 2017, and we opened this business the next day and have been in business every day since non-stop… This is the first time in eight years since my mom passed away that they’ve chosen us . We also want to enjoy our lives,” Ashley said.
With the increase in the cost of products and the shortage of workers, businesses have taken a toll, she said.
“We had to adjust our hours. We were from Monday to Saturday. We lost some workers and then switched from Tuesday to Saturday,” she said. “We have been fighting for workers for a long time. Sometimes I can have 30 cars and I wash 25 of those 30 cars with my hands. We are so short lately.”
Just before the 2020 pandemic, the business had 14 employees. It was down to two just before the last closing, which meant the sisters often had to help wash and detail the cars.
“My mom worked all the time,” April said. “Growing up, we went on family vacations with my aunt. We never went on family vacations with our mom really. He didn’t take many pictures with her. I’m looking forward to doing all the things my mom didn’t get to do.
“Dedicated to Work”
April, 43, and Ashley, 40, remember the car wash being a part of their lives since they were little girls growing up on the city’s east side. Ashley graduated from Huffman High School and April from Ramsey. The Etheridge family owned a barber shop, beauty salon, and car wash that were on the corner of 16th and 3rd Avenue North.
“We were like barbershop and beauty salon kids,” Ashley said. “We didn’t go there (across the street to the car wash) often. We just watched across the street at the beauty shop… we weren’t allowed to sit [over there] because we were little.”
After she reached high school, April remembered driving a car owned by her grandfather while she had to do odd jobs at the car wash. “After I got down to work, he gave me the car,” April recalls of the 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier. “
April said she learned every aspect of the business after her grandfather passed away. “When my mom took over the business, I had to help her with invoicing and ordering supplies and with the customer database, with the profit and loss statements, with all the financial reporting,” she said. “When we were younger, it was more fun than anything, counting the change from the drinks machine… [But it] prepare me for business. When my mother died, I knew exactly what I had to do, I knew exactly what I had to do to run the business.
Ashley said the sisters began discussing the future of the business in 2022 shortly after the pandemic. “We’ve lost a lot of employees … it’s just that everything has changed. We had 14 employees at one time in 2016-2020. After the pandemic, four returned. We now have two loyal employees that I have had for five plus years Geoffrey Edmondson and Lewis Dixon.’
As for the future, Ashley, who works at UAB, said she has returned to nursing at Lawson State Community College, and April has been with Blue Cross Blue Shield for 17 years.
The car wash is one of several businesses owned by members of the Etheridge family, which include five barbershops and a catering business.
Their uncles — part of Birmingham’s well-known Etheridge family — run the Etheridge Brothers barbershops on Greymont Avenue and the city center beauty and style store, which will remain open.
“Support Black Business”
As the sisters prepared to close the business last week, Jennifer Tien, who lives in McCalla, Ala., stopped by in her personal car. Tiehen said she found out about the Etheridge Senior Car wash through a Google search while working at her job at the center. That was after she and co-workers had scheduled someone to wash cars at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center where they worked.
“[We] we scheduled someone to come to us to detail the cars we have there, but they didn’t show up,” Tien said. “I googled and found Etheridge Senior Car Wash and since then we have returned almost seven vehicles. “
The work was so good that Tiehen said she and colleagues returned their personal cars.
Ralph Woodfin of Birmingham was also at the car wash last week and said he has been a regular customer.
“I have had my vehicles washed here several times and they have always done an excellent job. They were always thorough and my car always stayed there, sparkling from the inside out,” he said. “This business will be missed by the community because they did such an excellent job. I’m not happy to see this black-owned business go, but I think we should continue to support black-owned businesses in the area.”
