The Scrub Shop Is Lewis County Car Detailing Favorite

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When Ryan Votaw purchased The Scrub Shop on NE Kresky Ave in November 2017, it was the perfect opportunity for the first-time business owner. The shop had just been voted Best of Lewis County. 

On top of that, Ryan’s father, George Votaw, owns the Community First Auto Centers. So Ryan could detail the cars George puts up for sale. Ryan still works full-time for his father as the vice president and finance director of Community First Auto Centers, and The Scrub Shop has been voted Best of Lewis County every year since he bought it other than in 2020, when The Chronicle excluded the auto detail shop category.

The Scrub Shop details cars, interior and exterior, along with boats, RVs and basically anything with two or four wheels. The starting price point for a full detail, inside and out, for cars and small trucks, is $180. For larger vehicles, such as trucks and full-size SUVs, complete details start at $250. 

Prices can vary, depending on what level of care the car needs, especially when it comes to buffing, which can be a lot of work. The shop also does restoration work, such as fixing paint scratches and cleaning up stains.

“There’s a reason people pay money to have it done, because they just don’t want to deal with it and let stuff accumulate to the point where they feel overwhelmed,” Votaw said. “That’s where we step in.”

The shop even has an antimicrobial interior sanitizer, called Fresh Start, that keeps a vehicle sanitized and safe from COVID-19 for up to 30 days. It eliminates 99 percent of bacteria, germs, mold, mildew and viruses on both hard and soft surfaces. It meets the EPA’s Emerging Pathogens criteria for use against COVID-19.

Votaw has customers who stop by every two months, whose cars are not really that dirty, just to make sure their vehicle stays clean. It’s the way to go, Votaw said, as the shop will lower the price if the car isn’t very dirty.

Votaw himself bought a 2019 Honda CRV not too long ago and recently had it detailed for the first time. There was a little bit of dog hair and sand, not too much grime, but he said the feeling of having a spotless vehicle is nice.

“It was definitely a huge improvement,” Votaw said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, gosh. I should have had it cleaned way sooner because now I’m really liking how clean it is.’ It’s nice getting back in your car when it feels brand new again.”



That’s the feeling he tries to give to his customers, even with his dad’s dealership cars. As Votaw works full-time at the dealership, he has a crew that runs The Scrub Shop, which hasn’t been profitable quite yet. He has a five-year plan and expects to be profitable after he has some things paid off, such as the property the shop sits on.

Business at the shop has grown both better and worse since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, he said. The shop had to shut down completely for a couple months at one point before opening back up. Business was slow initially after the reopening, then before Votaw knew it they were backed up with customers. They ended up having too much business for the small shop to handle for a time.

But by the end of October and most of November, Votaw doesn’t know exactly why, people began canceling and no-showing their appointments. Luckily, December is usually a pretty good month for the shop as they offer holiday gift certificates, which make a perfect Christmas present, he said. 

“People come in here all the time just to buy a couple gift certificates for friends and family,” Voaw said. “It is a pretty good gift for people who don’t want to detail their car, especially if it’s pretty bad.”

Appointments do not have to be made beforehand. Anyone interested in having their vehicle detailed can just show up and have an employee look at it to give them an idea how much it’s going to cost. The Scrub Shop can also give estimates over the phone if they can describe a few things and answer a few questions.

What separates The Scrub Shop from other car detailers in the area, Votaw said, is the previous owner did a great job of building a quality reputation in the community. It’s a level of excellence that Votaw has worked diligently to carry on. The shop has a 4.6 Google reviews rating out of five, with all but one of the reviews coming within the last four years, since Votaw took over ownership. The shop is also a retail store, which many detail shops do not have, and Votaw has been working to make the shop more retail-friendly by adding a new floor and paint job.

Most of his business comes from word-of-mouth by pleased customers as he doesn’t do much advertising. That spreads quicker than anything, he said. 

“Very rarely do we have someone who’s truly upset with something that happened,” Votaw said. “We always try to do the right thing and resolve it the best we can and make them happy. At the end of the day, the best thing for business is to make them happy.”

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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.