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Flagstop’s location on Ironbridge Road in Chesterfield is one of 24 in the region. (Courtesy Flagstop)
Richmond’s biggest car wash chain has announced a change in executive leadership as it continues to grow throughout the region three years after taking on private equity investment.
Flagstop Car Wash announced late last month that longtime employee and CEO Jamie Nester has stepped back from that role, transitioning instead to chief growth and development officer.
Spencer Rakes, who joined Flagstop in April of last year as chief operating officer, has taken over the CEO role.
Rakes brings with him a long career in retail, having worked in operational positions for chains including Dollar General, Sears Holding Corp. and most recently, Pilot Co. in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Though Rakes is fairly new to Richmond, he has family roots in the area. His grandparents lived in the region for 45 years, and an aunt and uncle grew up here. He told BizSense that coming here for Flagstop feels like a sort of homecoming.
“(Richmond is) like a hometown to me, even though I didn’t personally grow up here,” he said.
Rakes said with Flagstop continuing to enlarge its footprint, the company and Nester felt the former CEO would be better suited for a role focused specifically on adding new locations.
“Jamie’s seen the growth of the market for the past 30 years, so he’s able to better understand where the opportunity is to put a car wash for our guests,” Rakes said of Nester. “We want to continue to grow, we want to have a wash everywhere.”
In a news release about the leadership change, Nester said, “I look forward to continuing to scale the Company into more communities across Central Virginia and beyond, while preserving the culture and quality service that has been key to our success over the past 44 years.”
Flagstop has 24 open locations and is on track to reach about 30 sites by the end of the year, Rakes said, surpassing the previous goal of 25 locations by the end of the year that Nester had spoken of.
In April, the company announced its purchase of Sudzy Malone’s Car Wash in Powhatan at 2622 Anderson Highway and Auto Spa Car Wash in Kilmarnock at 612 N. Main St. In February it opened a newly built location in Farmville.
“They’re natural extensions to the market we’re in,” Rakes said of the Kilmarnock and Farmville locations, which are the two farthest for Flagstop outside of Richmond.
And along with the Farmville location, Flagstop is amid a build-out for a new Ashland location, set to open at the end of the month at 12337 Washington Highway.
Jamie Nester
Rakes said that location, which has been under construction for seven or eight months, cost somewhere around $5.5 million to $6 million to build, as is typical for Flagstop locations built from the ground up.
And in the past 90 days, Flagstop has closed on two acquisitions: the purchase of two former Dave’s Auto Spa locations at 11571 Robious Road in North Chesterfield and 13550 Hull Street Road in Midlothian.
The Robious Road location is undergoing renovations and should be operating as a Flagstop in the next few weeks, Rakes said, adding that the company is awaiting renovations to begin in the Hull Street Road location.
He said both of those locations were desirable for Flagstop because the company had not had a large presence in those areas.
And with the Ashland location soon to complete construction and two more acquisitions fresh on his mind, Rakes said the growth is expected to accelerate, particularly with Nester helming the company’s expansion efforts.
“The ultimate goal is to be everywhere we work, shop and live, so the guest has the ultimate convenience,” Rakes said. “You’re never that far away from a clean car.”
Rakes declined to comment on where further locations, beyond the upcoming Bon Air, Brandermill and Ashland locations, might be.
Along with announcing Rakes’ appointment to CEO, Flagstop also promoted Craig Marable and Derek Haynes to chief site operations officer and chief facilities and infrastructure officer, respectively. The two previously served as company vice president of operations and vice president of maintenance and facilities.
Flagstop was founded in Chester in 1981. Nester joined the company as an employee while in college in 1994 and took over the business in 2017. The growth he led at the company attracted private equity firm Garnett Station Partners, which bought a majority stake in Flagstop in December 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
Jackie joined Richmond BizSense in January 2025. She covers startups, nonprofits, public companies, local government and more. Reach her at jackie@richmondbizsense.com or (703) 789-7628.
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