Leveling the Playing Field

John Um wanted to make sure small business owners could get fair pricing and access to reliable suppliers without needing to have significant buying power. As a leader whose career spanned several major retail and e-commerce companies, he had seen firsthand how hard...

Staying Fierce: Haley Gould Finds Perfect Fit in Vended Laundry

Haley Gould is the Director of Partner Success for HappyNest. She manages an internal team while leading more than 100 partners across the United States building a successful pickup and delivery operation in addition to running their laundromat business. A consummate...

Metrics That Matter

Profit, Performance, and Planning in Vended Laundry The laundromat business is like most businesses in that you need to do a lot of things right to be successful. But how do you know if it’s working? According to successful owners, you just need to look at the...

Startup to Scale

How Western State Design Has Been Helping Laundry Businesses Thrive for More Than 50 Years For more than five decades, Western State Design has been a leading provider of turnkey laundry solutions across the vended, on-premises, and commercial/industrial markets....

PlanetLaundry Podcast

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Business Bio: 1 Clean Laundry

May 31, 2015

Ed & Rachael Ellis 1 Clean Laundry Saint Cloud, Fla.Before Getting into the Laundry Business…The Ellises owned a property management company, which specialized in short-term vacation rentals.Store OpeningThe couple's first laundromat opened in December 2009. They...

An Ounce of Prevention

May 27, 2015

How to Safeguard Your Laundry Business from Theft It's 4 a.m., a brick just crashed through your store window… and you're out of town. Do you really feel comfortable having your spouse go to the store alone? This is the type of question many people ask themselves...

Making a Statement

May 27, 2015

The ‘What,' ‘Why' and ‘How' of Mission Statements In a long history of looking at mission statements, researchers and practitioners have almost universally acknowledged the value of a singular mission as a driving force for companies – and yet have been inconsistent...

Headlines

Continental Appoints Director of Services and Product Development

Continental Girbau Inc., headquartered in Oshkosh, Wis., has named Dave McAllister its director of services and product development. McAllister, who is filling a newly created position at the company, oversees customer and technical service areas for all Continental...

Whirlpool Expands Commercial Laundry Team

Whirlpool Commercial Laundry has appointed Steve Gizzi to the position of merchandising manager. In this position, he will be responsible for designing “differentiated programs to help advance commercial laundry selling strategies,” according to the company. “Steve’s...

Aaxon’s Pettineo Named to FCLA Board

The Florida Coin Laundry Association recently elected Brittany Pettineo to its board of directors. She is currently the director of marketing for Aaxon Laundry Systems, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Pettineo’s election to the 15-member board marks a milestone, making...

Retooling: The Gateway to a Stronger Industry

For the past year or so, I’ve been traveling the country giving presentations on how to become a better, more successful laundry operator. I’ve been talking to store owners, distributors… basically, anyone who will listen. I’ve gone to Coin Laundry Association events,...

Wash with Wally: Oil-Based vs. Water-Based Stains, Uniform Rental and More…

Is there a way of determining whether a stain is oil-based or water-based before I launder the garment? The only way you can determine that is by laundering both types of stains year after year. Visually, there is no way to tell the difference. Some water-based stains...

Business Bio: Dirty Laundry Express

Kevin Adkins Dirty Laundry Express Irvington, N.J. Before Getting into the Laundry Business… Kevin used to work for the U.S. Postal Service. Store Opening December 12, 2016 Business Hours 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. – Monday through Friday 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. –...

Rough Waters Ahead

An Interview with the American Water Works Association’s Director of Communications Greg Kail Greg Kail is the director of communications for the American Water Works Association, where he oversees internal and public communications, public affairs, media relations...

Signs of Success

Is Your Store’s Exterior Signage Doing All It Can for Your Laundry Business?Your exterior signs serve as a type of silent salesperson for your self-service laundry.They draw attention to your business and help differentiate it from the others down the street or...

Wanna Do Something Different for Christmas?

Laundry Owner Serves Holiday Dinner to Area Homeless“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” – Mahatma GandhiFor the last five years, we’ve done laundry for the homeless at our store every week.Here’s...

Dirty Laundry Never Takes a Vacation

Summer Camps May Provide the Perfect Opportunity to Grow Your Laundry Business’ Wash-Dry-Fold Revenue Summer is just around the corner – which means that, for many kids, so is summer camp. And, while going to camp has been a rite of passage for so many...

Lessons Learned From Life’s Superstars

Here’s How to Apply Examples Set by Extraordinary Individuals to the Successful Operation of Your Laundry Business Over the decades during which I’ve been curiously roaming this planet, I have been indeed fortunate to have encountered and known some truly...

Potential Sales Tax Threatens Nebraska Owners

Imagine having to hand over 7.5 percent of your gross sales to your state government – without being able to recoup this tax from your customers. That’s the dire possibility self-service laundry owners in Nebraska are currently facing. Like most states,...

This Month's Issue

Green is Good Business: Green Operations Increasingly Important to Feed Consumer Demand
Women In Laundry: Lee Ann Geurts Loves a Challenge
Store Profile: Kings Laundry Kicking it in Los Angeles
Untapped Growth Opportunities
And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

State Lawmakers Intensify Focus on Service Taxes

Here Are Some States to Watch… Along with Predictions for 2020 In 2019, state lawmakers across the country introduced 25 bills aimed at expanding their sales tax bases to services. Although just one of these proposals became law (a Washington Business and Occupation...

CLA Announces Four Upcoming Connect LIVE Events

Register now to attend the following CLA Connect LIVE events planned for the next two weeks. These events are open to current and potential store owners, as well as distributors and manufacturers. CLA Connect LIVE – Georgia October 15 in Atlanta “Natural Gas...

CLA Releases 2019 Laundry Industry Survey

The Coin Laundry Association has released the 23rd annual Industry Survey of vended laundry owners nationwide. For more than 20 years, the CLA has commissioned Readex Research, a nationally recognized independent research company, to conduct an industrywide survey of...

CLA Unveils New Membership Payment Options

The Coin Laundry Association now offers two different payment options and auto-renewals for annual membership dues for current and future store owners. The association launched new technology systems in early 2019 that feature various capabilities for membership...

Laundry Industry Veteran Retires

Laundry industry veteran Herald Birchfield recently announced his retirement after nearly 50 years in the business. Birchfield began his laundry career selling washers and dryers in the 1970s. He and his wife, Nancy, ran the Maytag Commercial Laundry Division of...