Jim and Melanie Cobb
Avenue O Laundry
Fort Madison, Iowa
Before Getting into the Laundry Business…
Jim is an operations manager for a general contractor, and Melanie is a realtor and property manager. Both owners remain in those positions.
Store Opening
June 2022
Business Hours
Avenue O is open 24 hours.
Total Square Footage
The facility is 4,200 square feet, with just over 3,000 square feet of that being customer usage space.
Parking Availability
The entire complex features more than 40 parking spaces, with some as close as 10 feet to the laundromat’s entrance, which is under a covered porch area leading to the front door.
Lease or Own?
The Cobbs own the building.
Building the Laundromat
“We had purchased an older, existing mini-mall and remodeled it,” Melanie explained. “Jim had the idea to build a laundromat for ourselves for retirement. The community was in great need of it as well, so it was a no-brainer. The laundromat now occupies three of the units within the mall.”
Not that the couple didn’t experience some hurdles along the way.
“Our building was all electric, so we first needed to begin the remodel with the addition of a gas line, which was run across a four-lane highway to the mall,” Melanie said.
The next hurdle was a six- to eight-month timeline for the delivery of the new store’s equipment, due to supply-chain issues. Fortunately, the distributor had another customer who, six months prior, ordered a similar equipment package as the Cobbs had – and now this customer needed to push back his order.
“What that meant was that his order would be ready in a month,” Melanie said. “The distributor wanted to see if we would like to take his order – and the rest is full-speed-ahead history.”
In all, the project took about eight months to complete and cost approximately $570,000.
Marketplace Demographics
Fort Madison has a population of 10,500. It is an older, blue-collar community consisting of a good number of factory, industrial, farming and railway workers. According to Melanie, Avenue O boasts a frontage vehicle count of more than 5,100 per day.
Competition
There is one other laundromat in Fort Madison.
Payment Options
Coins and the DexterPay app
Washers and Dryers
4 Dexter Laundry T-300 20-pound frontloaders, $4.00
6 Dexter Laundry T-400 30-pound frontloaders, $5.25
8 Dexter Laundry T-600 40-pound frontloaders, $6.75
6 Dexter Laundry T-900 60-pound frontloaders, $9.25
4 Dexter Laundry T-1200 80-pounder frontloaders, $12.25
12 Dexter Laundry 50-pound reversing stack dryers, $2.75 for 32 minutes
2 Dexter Laundry 80-pound reversing dryers, $3.75 for 32 minutes
Water Heating System
2 HPT Phoenix Series PH199 water heaters
Bill Changers
2 American Changer bill changers
Laundry Carts
6 R&B Wire laundry carts
Folding Tables
10 butcher-block, adjustable-height folding tables
Flooring
Polished concrete flooring
Lighting
Hanging LED tube lighting
Beverage Vending
1 beverage vending machine
- Soda (bottles), $1.50
- Soda (cans), $1.00
- Water, $1.00
- Energy drinks, $3.00
Snack Vending
1 snack vending machine, prices range from 50 cents to $2.00
Laundry Vending
1 Vend-Rite Manufacturing eight-column soap vending machine, $1.25
Television
2 55-inch televisions
Wash-Dry-Fold Service
- $2.00 per pound
- 10-pound minimum
Children’s Play Area
The laundromat features a 350-square-foot children’s learning and play center, which consists of a coloring space with a table, chairs, coloring books and a variety of crayons. The area also includes a picnic table, games, puzzles, books, a chalkboard, a magnetic board with letter/number magnets, a city roads rug with cars, blocks, and a wood display with small stuffed animals for the children to take home.
Additional Amenities
- Wi-Fi access
- 2 ADA-compliant restrooms
- USB outlets at the seating areas
- A board game table
Finance Company
Dexter Financial Services, for the laundry equipment
Distributor
Century Laundry Distributing – Hiawatha, Iowa
