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....

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Open for Business

Jan 28, 2015

Originally posted - Jan issue/2012 You've searched far and wide for that perfect laundry location or undervalued existing laundromat. You've met with every distributor and examined each manufacturer's spec sheets with a fine-toothed comb before selecting your new...

‘Face’ the Facts

Jan 28, 2015

Originally posted - Mar 25, 2013 If you are like me, a small-business owner, you most likely have heard of Facebook. You may even have a Facebook page for your business, but you may be wondering how to use Facebook practically to promote your business. I say...

Now Trending…

Jan 28, 2015

Originally posted Dec.issue/2012 Eight Trends and Issues Sure to Impact Your Business Life in 2013 "I don't set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them." – Dick Clark Yes, your small-business world can change quickly. And, yes, outside forces and new...

Headlines

Wash with Wally: Cleaning Your Catch Basin, Battling Mothball Odors and More…

We've owned our small laundry in northern Minnesota for just over a year now. Recently, I noticed a slight musty odor in our store, so I crawled into our laundry wash pit to clean it out. Not only did I find a bucket full of dirt, sand, hair and lint (along with a...

Investing in Customer Service Yields Real Value

"The customer is always right." - Marshall Field When I cite the quote above about the customer always being right, you might be quick to caution "you haven't been to my laundromat!"Well, I see this well-worn adage as aspirational, if not requiring some suspension of...

For What It’s Worth

Industry Experts Discuss Their ‘Formulas' for Increasing the Value of Your Laundry Business The valuation process of a self-service laundry is an art, not a science. Therefore, when it comes to boosting a store's value, absolute formulas won't necessarily work for...

I Want to Be a Connector in My City

Louisiana Store Owner Pulls His Community Together Through Popular Barbeque Cookouts When one of the local elementary schools in Lake Charles, La., was looking for ways to increase parent involvement and boost attendance at its PTO meetings, the principal called local...

I Want to Be a Connector in My City

Louisiana Store Owner Pulls His Community Together Through Popular Barbeque Cookouts When one of the local elementary schools in Lake Charles, La., was looking for ways to increase parent involvement and boost attendance at its PTO meetings, the principal called local...

Business Bio: South 4th Street Mega Grande Laundromat

Jim Mason South 4th Street Mega Grande Laundromat DeKalb, Ill. Before Getting into the Laundry Business… Jim is a real estate investor who has serviced the laundry equipment in his apartment buildings all over the Midwest for 30 years. Store Opening May 22, 2015...

Is Now the Time to Make Your Move?

An Interview with Economic Forecaster and Business Author Dr. Alan Beaulieu One of the country's most informed economists, Dr. Alan Beaulieu is the president of ITR Economics. Since 1990, he has been consulting with companies throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia on...

Business Bio: South 4th Street Mega Grande Laundromat

Jim Mason South 4th Street Mega Grande Laundromat DeKalb, Ill. Before Getting into the Laundry Business… Jim is a real estate investor who has serviced the laundry equipment in his apartment buildings all over the Midwest for 30 years. Store Opening May 22, 2015...

When ‘App-ortunity’ Strikes…

Consumer Awareness of On-Demand, App-Based Laundry Services is Growing – And That May Change the Game for Many Operators Early last year, this magazine published an in-depth cover story examining the on-demand home delivery and locker-based drop-off models that were...

The 7 Qualities of a Profitable Marketer

Boost Your Laundry Business by Developing These Critical Skills Marketing is every laundry owner's link to the outside world. It's how you persuasively encourage people to repeatedly purchase your products and services. Conceptually, it's just that simple. However, it...

WASH Laundry Names Regional Vice President

Bill Thomas to Oversee Company Sales in the Southwest Region WASH Multifamily Laundry Systems, based in El Segundo, Calif., has appointed Bill Thomas its regional vice president of sales for the Southwest region. "Bill has an impressive track record in marketing,...

HK Laundry Relaunches Website

Newly Re-Designed Site Features Expanded Video Library, Updated Content HK Laundry Equipment Inc., based in Armonk, N.Y., has announced the relaunching its company website – hklaundry.com. The newly revamped site features an expanded video library with more than 40...

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

Messe Frankfort Acquires Clean Show

It’s a Win-Win: New Deal to Create Enhanced Industry Event, While Building a Stronger Trade Association The Clean Show Executive Committee has announced that it has finalized a deal to sell the biennial industry event to Messe Frankfurt, the largest trade show and...

The CLA: What It Does for You – The List is Long and Its Value is Growing

As we move forward into 2019, the industry will see a significant shift in how the Coin Laundry Association operates and the educational products and resources it produces. Every change is part of the CLA Board of Directors’ long-term plan to grow and enhance the...

Knowledge Is King

Another year has come and gone faster than I could have imagined. Many times, I think about my mother, who is in her 90s, talking about how “time flies by so fast" that she couldn’t imagine how it could ever get any faster the next year – but that it always does. What...

Laundry Land Hosts Free Laundry Event in Virginia Beach

More than 1,000 pounds of clothes and linens were recently washed and dried at no charge at the Laundry Land laundromat in the Aragona Village Shopping Center in Virginia Beach, Va. On October 23, Laundry Land hosted a LaundryCares-sponsored free laundry day, which...

TLC Tri-State Laundry Hires Industry Veteran Art Roy

TLC Tri-State Laundry Companies, based in Valdosta, Ga., has hired industry veteran Art Roy, who will represent that company's Vended Laundry Division throughout the state of North Carolina. Originally from Cleveland, Roy began his career by selling laundry and ware...