Seniors and Other Niche Market Segments May Be Perfect Opportunities to Build Your Wash-Dry-Fold Clientele
In many ways, doing wash-dry-fold laundry for seniors in your community can almost be considered a public service commitment.
At my store, I have about half a dozen or so elderly women whose business I simply cannot turn down. However, to be perfectly honest, every time we do laundry for them, we lose money. Those women are the most creative people I’ve ever known when it comes to holding onto my employees with long-winded conversations, repeatedly calling the store regarding every little detail of their laundry orders and, essentially, just tying up my team.
Then again, they’re also some of the sweetest, dearest people I’ve ever done business with. I can’t turn them down. Just imagine what your mom or dad might be like in their 80s or 90s.
Many seniors have access to washers and dryers, but maybe they can’t get down their stairs to where the laundry facilities are located, or perhaps they simply no longer have the energy to take care of their laundry chores.
It’s a legitimate and growing need in the country. And there are ways to do this type of wash-dry-fold laundry efficiently and profitably by limiting the time it takes.
The best way to make money in this specific market niche is to target senior housing facilities, where you can pick up multiple loads at once. As our population ages and the Baby Boom generation enters its senior years, there is going to be an increased need for this type of service. In addition, there are facilities being built all over the country to take care of the growing senior population. However, many of these facilities aren’t planning for laundry to be handled internally – while others simply might want to offer their residents additional laundry service options.
When dealing with a senior housing facility, you don’t have to personally interact with the residents who are your customers, and you can pick up 10 to 20 loads on a regular basis from one central location.
Another advantage to having seniors as customers is the fact that older people tend to embrace schedules; they like to know that Tuesday, for example, is “laundry day.” And, for your business, this scheduling helps you to better plan your staffing – you know you will have X number of wash-dry-fold loads coming in on specific days of the week.
Obviously, handling some of the garments you receive from seniors – depending on the type of facility from which they’re coming – might be a bit more risky, as well as more work for your staff. You’ll have to consider your chemistry and how you want to equip your employees, because senior laundry isn’t always exactly “standard wash-dry-fold.” But, for the most part, you’re not going to be dealing with dangerous or hazardous materials.
All in all, a self-service laundry that’s equipped with the right chemistry can easily provide a great service to local senior housing facilities. What’s more, there are other potential markets for laundry owners that don’t necessarily include serving the elderly. For instance, there are probably opportunities in your market to also service the disabled or those with limited capacity with the same type of bulk laundry pickup-and-delivery approach.
As the laundry industry continues to progress and the wash-dry-fold business becomes more universally acceptable, I see seniors and other groups of individuals as potential growth markets, as well as areas of need where we, as laundry operators, can better serve our communities – and do it profitably.
