While You Wait, a Place Awash in Holiday Gift Ideas
Jeff Serber, who owns the establishment on Sunset just west of Fairfax, refers to it as a “boutique.” He’s been in the business 10 years, he does the merchandising himself, he knows what sells.
The framed art is too new to know how it will do, but the silver picture frames, the votive candle holders, the aromatherapy candles, the manicure sets and miniature sound systems--even the bedroom slippers--are selling well. So well, he says, that he plans to enlarge the boutique, just as he did at his Brentwood branch.
None of which is surprising, given the healthy retail environment.
Except that what Serber owns are carwashes.
Nice carwashes, in the toniest neighborhoods. But carwashes, nonetheless. Not the first place one would think of if one needed, say, a Patsy Cline CD or a box of stationery. But there they are at Serber’s Sunset Car Wash, along with the automotive accessories and the carwash-ubiquitous greeting cards.
“We do our biggest [non-wash] business in greeting cards,” Serber says. “And this month, business has doubled--people are doing their Christmas shopping here.”
Now this is something I have often considered but have never mustered the courage to do--go Christmas shopping at the carwash. Heaven knows it’s tempting. No crowds to speak of, and you’re just standing there anyway. Almost every carwash in the city has a decent selection of automotive accessories: cup holders and floor mats, suction-cup compasses and sandbag ashtrays, CD holders, cell-phone holders, and multi-sectional holders for maps and registration slips and other important items.
Who couldn’t use any of these things?
Not to mention the air fresheners of every style, hue and odor. A mango-scented Tweety Bird? The perfect stocking stuffer.
But beyond the predictable offerings is a mother lode of gift ideas. At Downtown Carwash, on the corner of Figueroa and Olympic, you can pick up a dictionary, a “Desk Reference” or a hardback bestseller. Ginseng is available in many forms. A stand of cassette tapes includes Pachelbel, Celtic dance and the “Martini Lounge” collection. There are travel kits, tool kits, digital travel clocks and handsome wooden cigar boxes. For the kids: Light Tracker basketball and Frisbee-like chaser disks as well as flatulent teddy bears (“They’re a gas”).
The inexplicably named Bel Air Carwash at La Brea and Santa Monica leans toward the automotive but has a fine collection of greeting cards. The local ZagatSurvey is on sale, as are select models of the swivel-eyed Chevron toy cars. The select collection of cassettes includes the stylings of Miss Marilyn McCoo, John Denver and Hall & Oates. Perfect for the ‘70s-nostalgic person on your list.
The Hollymont wash at Hollywood and Vermont has long been a personal favorite. An outstanding assortment of handy items--flashlights, lint brushes and bungee cords--rounds out the usual selection of visor mirrors and trash holders . . . and it also has a stand of magic tricks: snake-in-the-cans, joy buzzers, fake doggie doo and magic playing cards.
Add to this a dancing dashboard hula girl and a pair of fuzzy dice, and I think this year’s shopping is pretty much taken care of, thank you very much.
