For the second year in a row, the Star Tribune has named Tumble Fresh Coin Laundries “Minnesota’s Best” laundromat, based on the publication’s readers’ poll of top businesses throughout the state.
“We got really good at what we were doing,” said Stephen Linn, chief executive officer of Linn Companies. “We wanted all of our laundromats to have that same good feeling about them, and we did it. We have continued to evolve, and we’ve become unique. That’s what we wanted from the start.”
Linn founded the company, which focused primarily on acquiring and developing commercial real estate. Linn Companies now employs more than 300 staffers across four separate business units – one of those units being the Tumble Fresh laundromat brand.
After the first Tumble Fresh store proved to be a success, Linn opened two additional laundries within the next three years. He then hired an international branding company and built three more stand-alone laundromats with a specific, branded color scheme, look and customer experience. Next, Linn redesigned the original three stores in the exact mold of the newer facilities.
Today, Tumble Fresh Coin Laundries totals 12 locations in all.
“We wanted our laundromats to be clean and well-lit, to offer activities, and to feature well-stocked vending machines,” Linn explained. “When you look at our laundromats, you don’t see dark, uninviting places – you see large spaces with a lot of glass, and laundromats that are bright, safe, and welcoming. We have community tables where families can sit and enjoy themselves. We even have car vacuums.
“Tumble Fresh laundromats are places where we’ve taken the chore out of the task. We provide a service, and we want our stores to be a place people enjoy going.”
The Tumble Fresh laundromat model soon will be franchised across the country, according to the company. In fact, the Tumble Fresh brand currently has sites targeted in Fargo, N.D.; Superior, Wis.; and several locations throughout Minnesota.
