Back-to-back honors in Guide to South Carolina’s reader-voted awards arrive as QC Capital Group expands the express car wash platform across three states, with a new Alpharetta, Georgia site closed in July and the platform’s first ground-up development opening August 14
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — QC Capital Group, LLC today announced that AquaShine Express, the express car wash platform the firm owns and operates, has been voted Best Car Wash in South Carolina in the 2026 Best of South Carolina Awards, presented by Guide to South Carolina. The recognition marks the second consecutive year AquaShine Express has held the statewide title, following its 2025 win.
The Best of South Carolina Awards are an annual statewide program in which residents nominate businesses and then choose the winners by public vote, across categories spanning food and drink, retail, home services, and automotive and transportation. Because the results are decided by customers rather than conferred, the award functions as a direct reading of how South Carolinians actually experience a business, one visit at a time.
AquaShine Express earned the statewide honor from its Greenville location on South Pleasantburg Drive, where the offer is deliberately simple: a fast express tunnel, unlimited membership plans starting at $19.99 per month with no contracts, free vacuums at every visit, and complimentary towels and glass cleaner. Family plans, fleet programs, and local fundraising partnerships extend the model beyond the individual member.
“An award decided by public vote is the only kind you cannot engineer,” said Chris Salerno, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of QC Capital Group. “Nobody votes for a car wash because of its capital structure. They vote because the tunnel was fast, the vacuums worked, the site was clean, and the person at the pay station knew their name. Winning that vote once could be luck. Winning it two years in a row is our operations team doing the same unglamorous things correctly every single day, and this recognition belongs to them.”
Consumer recognition, operating evidence
For QC Capital, the award carries weight beyond the trophy shelf because of how the firm is structured. QC Capital owns the operator. AquaShine Express is not a third-party manager placed on top of the firm’s real estate, and the firm is not a passive equity holder in someone else’s chain. When customers in a statewide vote name AquaShine Express the best car wash in South Carolina, they are grading the same operating systems, site standards, and frontline teams that QC Capital builds, staffs, and holds accountable.
Consistency is the point. The express car wash model is built on unlimited membership, and membership survives on repeat experience rather than on any single visit. A brand that customers vote for in consecutive years is a brand they have stopped re-evaluating, which is precisely the behavior a subscription business is designed to earn. As the platform continues expanding its footprint and growing its membership base, building a recognizable and respected consumer brand remains a core part of QC Capital’s long-term strategy.
“We underwrite corners, traffic counts, and construction costs, but what the customer meets is none of those things,” Salerno said. “The customer meets a brand. Recognition like this tells us the brand is keeping the promise the underwriting made, and that is the whole model working in the right order. We are grateful to our team members who made this happen and to our investors for their continued confidence.”
A platform still adding sites
The award lands in the middle of an active expansion year. AquaShine Express currently operates nine locations across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. QC Capital closed on a new site in Alpharetta, Georgia on July 10, 2026, will hold the grand opening of the platform’s first ground-up development location on August 14, 2026, holds two additional development sites under contract, and has one development site under construction scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The platform is growing into a sector whose fundamentals have held even as its capital markets cooled. Express tunnel EBITDA margins remain in the range of 30% to 45%, and subscription membership revenue across the industry continues to grow at more than 12% annually. QC Car Wash Fund III, launched in January 2026, funds the platform’s development and acquisition pipeline and remains open to accredited investors directly and through investment professionals on major custodial platforms.
“Brand strength and site discipline are usually presented as different strategies, but they are the same strategy observed at different distances,” Salerno said. “Discipline picks the corner. The brand is what happens on it for the next twenty years.”
About QC Capital Group
QC Capital Group, LLC is a Charlotte, North Carolina based private equity and alternative investment firm founded in 2018. The firm acquires, builds, and operates real assets and operating businesses for accredited investors, with active portfolios across car care, flex industrial real estate, business and commercial real estate credit, healthcare, and venture partnerships. QC Capital’s strategies pair real estate ownership with the operating businesses that occupy it, with the objective of producing tax-efficient current income alongside long-term capital appreciation. The firm is led by Founder and Chief Executive Officer Chris Salerno, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and a Charlotte Business Journal Most Admired CEO. QC Capital Group is an independent firm and is not affiliated with QC Holdings, QC Capital Management, QC Capital Partners, or QC Home Buyers. Learn more at qccapitalgroup.com.
About AquaShine Express
AquaShine Express is a growing express car wash platform owned and operated by QC Capital Group, with nine locations across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina and additional sites in development. AquaShine Express operates a shorter-tunnel express format built around unlimited membership plans, family plans, and fleet programs. AquaShine Express was voted Best Car Wash in South Carolina in the Best of South Carolina Awards in both 2025 and 2026. Learn more at aquashineexpress.com.
Media Contact
Amy Tuck
Vice President of Marketing
QC Capital Group
(704) 281.8580
qccapitalgroup.com
Important Disclosures
This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any such offer is made only to accredited investors, as defined under Rule 501 of Regulation D, and only by means of a confidential private placement memorandum and related offering documents, which should be read in their entirety. Private investments are speculative, illiquid, and involve substantial risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and the performance of any individual location or platform is not indicative of fund-level results.
The Best of South Carolina Awards are conducted by Guide to South Carolina and reflect the outcome of public nomination and voting. The award is a consumer recognition of the AquaShine Express car wash brand; it is not a rating, endorsement, or evaluation of QC Capital Group, any QC Capital Group fund, or any investment offering, and it should not be relied upon in making any investment decision. Market statistics cited in this release, including operating margins and membership revenue growth, are drawn from third-party industry sources, are presented as general market context, and are not representative of the performance of any QC Capital Group fund or property. Statements regarding development timelines, site acquisitions under contract, and scheduled openings are forward-looking and subject to construction, permitting, financing, and market risks that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially.
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