Arizona Commercial Laundry Leans Heavily on Its Industry Knowledge and First-Class Customer Service
Arizona Commercial Laundry – a full-service laundry distributor headquartered in Phoenix – can trace its commercial laundry industry roots back more than 60 years… and about 1,000 miles east.
“My wife’s grandfather got into the coin laundry distributorship business in 1959, when he founded Arrow Machinery in Oklahoma,” explained ACL owner Ben Goodwin. “We have a strong, experienced team there, and we are exporting all of that know-how and industry knowledge to Arizona.
“I jumped into the laundry world 10 years ago, and it blew my mind how interesting it really is. As the saying goes, ‘Once you’re in the laundry industry, you never leave.’ That definitely rings very true for me.”
Arizona Commercial Laundry represents Wascomat commercial washers and dryers throughout the Grand Canyon State. However, the company repairs all makes and models of commercial laundry equipment.
ACL’s staff sets itself apart through its outstanding customer service, Goodwin boasted.
The ACL team (from left): Chris McFarland, Glenda Newman and Mark Carman.
“We try to be great at service,” he explained. “What that means is, when you call us with a broken machine, we have a technician who can get there quickly, and that technician has the skills and experience to fix your machine. We also place a premium to communicating with customers exactly what is going on. And whatever brand of commercial laundry equipment you have, we have the technician and parts to service it.”
Arizona Commercial Laundry not only services Wascomat and Electrolux machines but all brands, such as American Dryer, Cissell, Dexter, Huebsch, Milnor and Speed Queen. What’s more, the distributorship carries a full inventory of Wascomat/Electrolux parts – including belts, water valves, drain valves, relays and computers – along with a wide variety of parts for several other brands of commercial washers and dryers.
“For equipment buyers, great service means having salespeople who are great at listening to what the buyer’s needs really are and providing that buyer the resources to make well-informed purchasing decisions.”
No doubt, getting a new laundromat business off the ground is “a journey of a million little steps,” as Goodwin puts it.
However, he and the rest of the team at Arizona Commercial Laundry are there to answer any questions aspiring laundromat operators may have, as well as to offer the most effective solutions for their specific needs.
“When you’re ready to start, reach out to us and help us get to know your laundromat project,” he stated. “We’ll be with you every step of the way, tailoring a plan that works for you.”
What are the keys to a successful laundromat business, according to Goodwin?
“I would guess PlanetLaundry probably has written a billion words on the topic of laundromat success,” he noted. “For me, at the highest level, it simply means making supply equal demand. Find a location that has a lot of demand – and then build a store that most efficiently meets that demand. And you can carry this principle down to a very detailed, granular level. For example, what is the demand for folding space square footage in one hour on a Saturday afternoon, and how do I design the business to supply that?”
For new laundromat owners or potential investors, Goodwin has the following advice:
“It’s a journey of a million questions,” he said. “It can be overwhelming to try to answer all of them at once. I suggest you figure out the solution to one question at a time, solve that particular issue and then move on to the next and keep going.”
