Mint Smartwash sought out National Neon Displays, now amalgamated with Knight Signs Canada, to help facilitate the best possible customer-focused experience with sharp, attractive car wash signage. Photos courtesy Mint Smartwash
By Carly McHugh
There is no experience quite like driving through the car wash. Slowly pulling into the enclosure with the door closing behind. Seeing the colourful soap applied in splatters until it covers the entire vehicle. Feeling the water trickle down as it rinses those suds off—and of course, who can forget the turbo dryer at the threshold to whisk away those last few drops?
Washing one’s car is not just an immersive experience, but a personal one as well. Different wash options allow car owners to come and go as they please or stay as long as they like until they have achieved their ideal version of clean. This is why Mint Smartwash sought out National Neon Displays—now amalgamated with Knight Signs Canada—to help facilitate the best possible customer-focused experience with sharp, attractive car wash signage.
National Neon Displays (Knight Signs) began working with the up-and-coming, Alberta-based car wash franchise in August 2020. Comprised of a group of owners, Mint was founded on delivering vehicle cleanliness in a safe, efficient environment while also remaining environmentally responsible. Their car washes use state-of-the art technologies and conservation strategies to monitor water use, recycle wastewater for initial wash and rinse, disperse safe soaps and waxes, and collect and dispose of contaminants and sediments.
Mint originally contacted Knight Signs with a request for a single car wash sign. Following a presentation from the company regarding who they were and the sign installations they had done in the past, they were awarded the contract for their first Mint Smartwash expansion location. When the initial project was completed and Mint saw the work Knight Signs was able to do first-hand, they were awarded contracts for the remaining planned locations.
Since the business relationship began, the Knight Signs team—led by project manager Michael Jug—has completed work on five Mint Smartwash locations in Medicine Hat, Edmonton Argyll, Edmonton Grove, Red Deer, and Calgary. They are currently finalizing work on two more in Regina, Sask., and Lethbridge, Alta. The Lethbridge location is the original Mint Smartwash, and Knight Signs has been contracted to update its signs for consistency with all the new locations.
National Neon Displays (Knight Signs) has completed work on five Mint Smartwash locations, including this one in Medicine Hat, Alta.
Each Mint Smartwash location requires a variety of sign types—from large pylons with double-sided P10 digital displays to immense acrylic push-through logos, aluminum channel letters, digital advertising kiosks, directional wayfinding signs, and vinyl decals applied to rigid surfaces and substrates. A typical site will have three logos, one or two pylons, two monuments, two kiosks, and three or four sets of channel letters. In total, there can be as many as 15 building or branding signs per location, plus another 75 smaller dibond wayfinding signs. To date, Knight Signs has manufactured and installed approximately 600 signs for Mint Smartwash locations.
