Tommy's Express opens first Naperville site with free-wash launch week
The franchise brand debuts at 2928 N. Beebe Drive with a 10-day free wash promotion running July 17 through July 26.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
Tommy's Express has opened its first location in Naperville, Illinois, at 2928 N. Beebe Drive, marking another site for the Holland, Michigan-based franchise brand. To mark the debut, the company is offering free washes every day from Friday, July 17, through Sunday, July 26, according to the announcement from the International Carwash Association.
The new site carries the brand's signature building design and equipment. Large bay windows let customers watch vehicles move through the tunnel on a dual-belt conveyor built to handle a range of vehicle types, with a wash cycle the company says runs under three minutes from start to finish.
What the site offers
Beyond the tunnel, the location includes free self-serve interior vacuum stations and mat washers. Customers can enroll in the TommyClub Unlimited Wash Membership through the brand's mobile app, which uses license plate recognition for automatic entry. The membership program spans four customizable wash packages positioned to fit different needs and budgets.
Tommy's Express traces its roots to Quality Car Wash, founded by Jacob, Sonny, and Tom Essenburg in 1969, giving the brand a 57-year operating history. Its buildings and equipment, originally developed by Tommy Car Wash Systems, are manufactured in West Michigan. The franchise provides operators with training, marketing, technical support, and access to franchise-exclusive wash products and technology. The company notes it ranks No. 1 in the car wash category on Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 list and appears among its Fastest-Growing Franchises.
Why it matters for operators
The Naperville opening is a reminder that national franchise brands continue to press into affluent suburban markets, and the extended free-wash promotion shows how aggressively new sites court membership sign-ups from day one. Ten straight days of free washes is a customer-acquisition play as much as a celebration, giving the site a large pool of trial users to convert into recurring TommyClub members before a competitor can lock them in.
The details Tommy's emphasizes reflect where the express segment competes: fast throughput, a visible wash process, free amenities like vacuums and mat washers, and frictionless membership entry through license plate recognition. Independent operators facing new franchise competition in their trade areas should expect the same playbook, including app-based enrollment and tiered package pricing designed to move customers up the value ladder.
For operators weighing their own expansion or defensive positioning, the launch underscores two practical points. First, a strong grand-opening offer can rapidly build a membership base, but the real test is retention once the free period ends. Second, amenities that used to differentiate a wash, such as free vacuums and mat cleaning, are increasingly table stakes in the express tunnel model. Watching how a new franchise entrant performs in a market like Naperville can offer a useful read on local demand and pricing tolerance before making capital commitments of your own.
