New York Laundry Owner Shares His Thoughts on Adding a Literacy Element to His Business Model
Multi-store owner Steve Levine may be the perfect role model for the LaundryCares Foundation’s literacy programs and Family Read, Play & Learn Centers.
After all, he’s placed two of the literacy-rich early childhood learning spaces in two of his New York-based laundromats, Supersudz Brentwood and Supersudz Bay Shore.
And each installation was completed differently – with one RPL Center fitting into an already-existing space, and the other serving as an integral element of a brand new buildout.
“We have two stores with LaundryCares’ Read, Play & Learn Centers installed,” Levine explained. “The first one was put in when the LCF literacy program just got started.”
In this laundromat, Levine had already switched a gaming area he had inherited from the store’s previous owner to a kids’ space with brightly colored flooring tiles, a children’s table and chairs, and a bookcase that he and his staff kept stocked with books from a local secondhand store.
“The customers loved having a place where their children could stay safe and remain occupied, while they tended to their clothes,” he explained. “Then, when we heard about the LaundryCares Foundation, we knew immediately that it was something we wanted to get involved with. The RPL space and LaundryCares’ literacy connections took our kids’ area to an entirely new level – putting us in touch with great organizations like our local library and helping us get started with regularly scheduled book readings at the laundry.”
Since emphasizing his business’ focus on literacy and community involvement, Levine and Supersudz also have hosted several great events aimed at neighborhood outreach and bettering the lives of local residents. Some of the events included a visit from the library’s popular mascot “Owlberto;” a program presented by My Brother’s Keeper, which is an organization whose mission is to help young men in underserved areas thrive; and a visit by one of area’s local senators, who also spent time as a guest reader to the kids at the store.
“In addition, we’ve since removed all of the adult games from the store,” Levine noted. “Although they brought in some extra cash, we found that the people who were hanging around to use these games were making the families that we truly wanted as our customers uncomfortable. In fact, since we removed those machines, store sales have increased substantially.
“And we recently built a new laundromat from the ground up, and the kids’ learning center was an absolute priority from the very beginning.”
This past April, Levine doubled down on his community involvement and held a Free Laundry & Literacy Day, with the help of the LaundryCares Foundation.
“We brought in pizza, a face-painter, and celebrities to read to the kids – such as Patti Miller from the Clinton Foundation’s Too Small to Fail initiative, a representative from the local library, and even New York State Senator Phil Boyle,” Levine said. “It was a great event and well received by the neighborhood.
“I have no idea how many families and children have benefitted from our literacy- and learning-focused spaces, but our older store is very busy,” he added. “We get hundreds of kids through there every week, and the learning center stays extremely busy.”
As a business owner, Levine has witnessed first-hand how the LCF’s designated literacy spaces have helped his laundry operations – both tangibly and intangibly.
“As I mentioned earlier, since we installed the kids’ areas, our store sales have seen steady increases,” he pointed out. “As a parent, I happen to love kids and strongly believe the way to improve society is to help youth who are in need of help. It always puts a smile on my face to see kids playing or reading in our children’s areas. We also have dedicated televisions in those spaces playing strictly kids’ programming, as well as wall toys for them to play with.
“We believe it makes the families feel that we care about them enough to give them things to make their stay with us a bit less aggravating and stressful.”
On top of that, whenever a Supersudz location holds a give-away event, such as raffling off bicycles, Levine makes certain that there are plenty of smaller toys on hand those days so that there is something to give out to any children who shows up that day.
Levine also owns a third, smaller laundromat, which he said currently does not have ample space for a proper reading area. However, he added that a renovation and expansion of that location is in his plans for the future – as is, no doubt, another Read, Play & Learn Center.
“If you have even just a bit of extra space,” Levine advised, “a literacy and learning center will bring in more joy – and revenue – than many of the other types of ancillary offerings that so many store owners put into their laundromats.”
[For more information about the LaundryCares Foundation, its programs for store owners and how to get involved, contact Dan Naumann at: [email protected]; or visit the organization’s website at: www.laundrycares.org.]
