Appleton Common Council approves permit for car wash in former Shopko building

APPLETON - The Appleton Common Council approved a special use permit Wednesday night for a car wash to move into part of the former Shopko building.

The building, at 1000 W. Northland Ave., has sat empty for more than three years after Shopko went bankrupt in 2019 and closed all its stores. The Appleton building is part of the Northland Mall complex.

Real estate developer Mays and Company asked for the permit to build a Zips Car Wash on about half of the 113,000-square-foot building. It would include two wash tunnels, indoor car waiting spaces and about 35 indoor vacuum stations. 

Both the entrance and the exit of the car wash would be on the west side of the building, closest to Festival Foods. The proposed hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

The council passed the motion to approve the permit 8-4, just reaching the two-thirds vote needed for passage.

Council member Denise Fenton, whose district the building is in, said the city is compelled to approve the permit because the business meets the permit requirements.

"The car wash is not the first thing that I'd have wanted to put there. It is an intriguing concept to have it all indoors like that," she said. "But what I want less is a very large building sitting empty in my district, dragging down the rest of the neighboring properties."

Council member Nate Wolff said he was opposed to the plan because he thinks Zips' decision was based on a study done before a number of new car washes opened in Appleton. 

"I think we're doing them a disservice by telling them that this is a good investment before they have an opportunity to see what real numbers look like," Wolff said.

He also said he asked people on his Facebook page what they thought of the proposal and said 52 of 62 respondents opposed it.

The Plan Commission approved the request at its Aug. 10 meeting, sending it to the council.

Zips Car Wash says it has more than 200 locations across the country. Four are in Wisconsin — in Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Saukville and Sheboygan.

Since Shopko went out of business, some former stores have been redeveloped.

• Planet Fitness is opening in part of the Neenah location, 699 S. Green Bay Rd. A Noodles and Company restaurant is being built in the lot in front of the building.
• Festival Foods is opening in the Kimberly location, 800 E. Maes Ave. 
• A number of retailers have moved into the Plover location, now called Artist & Fare. 
• The Wausau Veterans Affairs Clinic has taken over the Rothschild location.
• Big Lots and Hobby Lobby have opened in the Fond du Lac location.
• Hy-Vee is coming to the Ashwaubenon location, in the Bay Park Square mall.
• Hobby Lobby and Ross Dress For Less are coming to the Sheboygan location.
• Harbor Freight Tools has opened in the Manitowoc location.
• Parts of former Shopkos in Oshkosh, Marshfield, Wausau and Suamico have converted spaces to indoor, climate-controlled storage.

MORE: Shopko's bankruptcy left more than 300 stores vacant. More and more are being turned to new uses

MORE: Neenah offers $950,000 to support the redevelopment of the former Shopko store for retail tenants

Contact Larry Gallup at (920) 996-7216 or lgallup@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @LarryGallup.