Originally posted – Oct 24, 2014
Deborah Burnett is an award-winning, internationally recognized registered interior designer, lighting practitioner, keynote presenter and author. Over her 30-year professional career, Burnett – a principal and partner in the Benya Burnett Consultancy – has emerged as a leader of intent-driven, evidence-based architectural and interior design, devoted to a working knowledge of how the body and brain are directly impacted by built environmental light, color, pattern, view and sound.
Why is it important for laundry owners to pay attention to the design and layout of their stores?
For the approximately 30,000 coin laundry locations in the U.S. today, the choice between current design style and staying profitable is a fine line. So, when it comes to renovating and/or opening a new location, laundry owners have a lot to consider.
However, before you decide on the overall style, paint colors, brand theme or even floor patterns, savvy owners first and foremost must take into account what customers are really expecting from a laundromat – and then begin to think about design.
For most customers searching for a laundry, the prime considerations boil down to proximity, price, availability for social interactions, space to fold and hang their clothes, and overall cleanliness.
With that said, a new set of concerns is emerging, and savvy laundry owners will also pay close attention to details that speak directly to customer-perceived personal safety and an overall design style that fosters respectful social interaction among all patrons.
What are some “design basics” for laundry owners?
Although facing an upcoming remodeling project can be economically challenging, the rewards are great, if you follow this sage advice: Forget what others are doing and design for attracting and keeping the loyalty of a neighbor.
To apply this mantra, remember that knowledge is the design element needed most – collect as much generic data as possible on the typical neighborhoods within walking or short driving distances from your location. You don’t need to hire an expensive polling professional; simply drive around the neighborhood and use your eyes to tell you what you need to know: estimated age range of residents, gender, social status, average economic bracket and typical occupation for these “neighbors.”
Your grassroots efforts will provide the information needed to help establish your specific design style and budget. A basic rule of thumb for retail design is that the design needs to reflect the type of customer you are targeting. For most stand-alone locations, the level of economic design style will need to reflect the bare minimum of lifestyle affluence in nearby neighborhoods, while keeping a loyal patron will require higher design detail at least one social and economic level above the surrounding neighborhood.
Another key point to consider is accommodation. For most of the people who are without a personal washer and dryer, the very idea of doing laundry is considered a chore; however, if the surroundings are appealing, that drudgery can quickly become a desirable social function – but only if the décor supports the shift in perspective.
How can laundry owners best target their customers through interior design?
Although self-service laundries exist in nearly every community, the overwhelming majority are in head-to-head competition within the urban environments. And, for those living in urban areas, a laundromat has the potential to become one of the best places to socialize and relax after work.
Just as an example, locations serving this demographic call for a multi-purpose store design, featuring diverse amenities like coffee bars and visually prominent social areas including large chrome tables strategically located within clear sight of the storefront windows and surrounded by tall stools for socializing and laundry folding.
Do you have any suggestions as far as color or other design elements?
While upscale furnishings may be nice, don’t overlook the power of paint color to make an impact. Business owners would be wise to consider a sophisticated, rather than bold, color scheme accented with subtle hints of restrained but saturated color. For these locations, consider, for instance, a neutral but yet medium dark grayish green wall color – and perhaps adding a smattering of dusky turquoise or burnt lavender glass tiles embedded into low-profile partition walls that can help to elicit an ambience of both calm and clean.
To encourage customer loyalty and neighborhood patronage, maybe include oversized wall graphics and branded logos infused with the trendy chartreuse-inspired golden green colorations. As for the graphics, invest in local-centric themes; some popular urban examples are “Keep Portland Weird” and “Better in Brooklyn.” This is a great way to personalize your neighborhood and marketplace.
Lighting design is your expertise. What tips can you share with today’s store owners?
Lighting is an unspoken key for determining style and sophistication. Even though some businesses can afford astronomically high lighting budgets, savvy owners can keep costs low by following some simple advice. Using a selection of different types of light sources with bulbs of differing color spectrums will make a big difference – if you keep in mind that there are two mutually exclusive design objectives to achieve: (1) create low light levels of soft social ambience, and (2) provide practical visual acuity with high light levels using bulbs designed to enhance the pigments found within clothing.
Begin by installing low level, warm-toned light sources within track or cove lighting focused on all vertical wall surfaces, as this will serve to provide an upscale ambience and help to define the overall store footprint. Next, position a series of tightly focused high light levels of color quality light, keyed for the visual acuity of laundry inspection – installing four- to six-inch recessed luminaries located above the doors of each machine bank can go a long way toward providing the necessary light without glare or fluorescent lay-in overkill. The best choices are wide spot bulbs in trim recessed fixtures featuring energy-saving, bright white LEDs. This type of light will highlight the pigments and dyes found in clothing and help your customers to visually isolate any stains.
However, be sure to position the LED fixtures above the front opening of each machine, as this location will deliver the proper light for examining clothing without flooding the entire space with garish light. The ideal ceiling position is fixed exactly at two feet in front of machine door openings so that the light hits the floor, which then will give customers the most light where it is needed.
Also, when specifying lighting for the majority of open non-laundry floor space, be sure to avoid placing the lighting fixtures in a standard grid pattern, as this will downgrade the social acceptance of your store to that of a big-box, low-end retailer.
Instead, strive to match the light fixture location and corresponding light levels to the task performed – this means higher light levels focusing above service and vending areas, while only minimal overhead lighting with lower light levels featured in seating areas. For these relaxing spaces, consider using oversized but well-anchored floor lamps with 100-watt equivalent warm white compact fluorescent bulbs to affordably infuse style, suggest comfort and still enable customer to feel safe and comfy while waiting for the drying cycle to complete.
In many ways, it’s a matter of today’s design trends versus business necessities. Would that be correct?
Yes, for many laundry operators, it’s easy to lose sight of the trees when flipping through magazine layouts featuring dramatic, hip and trendy retail designs. For example, a visually appealing layout and color placement may not realistically provide adequate lighting to examine clothing stains and so on. For instance, a dramatically dark green wall color can foster feelings of isolation and concern for personal security – a real bottom-line issue when you consider that many self-service laundries are frequented by women after work during the evening hours, when safety concerns are paramount.
Your design decisions can play a critical role in helping you to stay profitable, while providing your customers with exactly what they want and need most.
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