SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — According to www.ksby.com, the owners of a trio of carwashes decided to return the federal small business loan they received since the washes have been doing very well, despite the coronavirus restrictions.
Customers have remained constant at Quiky Car Wash in recent days, and the carwash even closed off every other vacuum as an attempt to social distance, the article noted.
“We had a downtime of probably two to three weeks, but we’re now back up to normal business, which is fantastic,” Hamish Marshall, co-owner of Quiky Car Wash, said.
Even though the business is doing well now, Marshall said it lost about $100,000 in profits from late March to early April, which prompted him to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, the article stated.
“We wanted to make sure we at least gave ourselves the opportunity to get the money, and if we needed it, we’d keep it,” Marshall said.
However, thanks to government approval and community support, Quiky Car Wash no longer needs the loan to keep running, the article continued.
With many small businesses looking for help in the now depleted fund, news of payouts to larger companies, like the Los Angeles Lakers and Shake Shack, have proved controversial, the article noted.
“Those people that received the PPP money need to make a social, moral decision on whether they need the money or not, and if they don’t, they shouldn’t take it,” Marshall said.
Although Shake Shack and the Lakers did return the loans, there have been reports of other mid-sized businesses holding onto these funds that they don’t need, hoping to receive federal forgiveness and tuck away the money, the article stated.
“This country is built on small businesses; that’s what it is,” Marshall said. “I think going into this was fairly easy to a degree. Coming out is going to be very, very difficult.”
While Marshall did not need the loans for his carwash, he does still desperately need the funds for his other two businesses, SLO Brewing Co. and Hotel Cerro; however, until the economy reopens, he has no way to spend the money, the article concluded.
Read the original story here.
