Green is Good Business

Green Operations Increasingly Important to Feed Consumer Demand When Green Laundry Lounge co-owners Pulin and Krishna Dasai got into the vended laundry industry, they wanted to change a narrative: laundromats are water and energy-intensive businesses. “The laundromat...

Green is Good Business

Green Operations Increasingly Important to Feed Consumer Demand When Green Laundry Lounge co-owners Pulin and Krishna Dasai got into the vended laundry industry, they wanted to change a narrative: laundromats are water and energy-intensive businesses. “The...

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...

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Be Your Own Competition

Jan 29, 2015

Originally posted - Sept issue/2012 "I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it." – Walt Disney Next to vend price, there isn't a more combustible topic of conversation among laundry owners than competition. In my...

Making a Name for Ourselves

Jan 29, 2015

Originally posted - Mar 27, 2012 What is our industry's brand? I'm fond of the following motto that I derived from the insightful consumer research conducted by the Coin Laundry Association: Our customers want time-savings and convenience in a clean, safe environment...

Take Notes – And Then Take Action

Jan 29, 2015

Originally posted - Aug 15, 2012 Each year, one of the most valuable things a self-service laundry owner can do is attend distributor shows. And please notice that I didn't just say "your distributor show." The reason for this is because I personally go to several...

Headlines

WASH Laundry Names District Sales Manager

Edward Coon to Serve Oregon Multi-Family Laundry Market WASH Multifamily Laundry Systems, based in El Segundo, Calif., has named Edward Coon as its new district sales manager for Oregon. From the Portland branch office, Coon will be responsible for expanding sales...

R&B Wire Products Celebrates 70 Successful Years in Business

When R&B Wire Products (then known as RB Company) was founded in 1946, the self-service laundry industry was still in its infancy. World War II had just ended, and the ingenuity of product design and development had shifted from the war effort to more practical...

WASH Laundry Teams Up with Alaska-Based Distributorship

WASH Multifamily Laundry Systems recently announced that it has partnered with Harold's Commercial Laundry, a distributor of vended and commercial laundry equipment based in Anchorage, Alaska. This new partnership will enhance the breadth of services available to both...

Tide Enters On-Demand Laundry Arena

Proctor & Gamble Brand Now Offers App-Based Delivery Service in Select Chicago Markets Cincinnati-based consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has begun testing a new on-demand, app-based laundry and drycleaning delivery service in select Chicago markets. This...

WashClub Opens New Branch in Miami

New York Company Brings On-Demand Laundry Services to Busy South Florida Market WashClub, an on-demand laundry and drycleaning service headquartered in New York City, recently opened its newest branch in Miami. WashClub Miami is owned and operated by Dave Carlson....

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...

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...

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...

This Month's Issue

Get Clear to Keep it Clean: Find Focus to Maximize Your Marketing Efforts
Women In Laundry: From the Washroom to the Boardroom
Store Profile: Southern Suds Changing the Game
Member Spotlight: Hutchinson Belt Drive Systems
And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

WASH Laundry Names New CEO

WASH Multifamily Laundry Systems – headquartered in El Segundo, Calif. – has appointed Jim Gimeson as the company’s new chief executive officer. Gimeson will focus on strengthening the WASH brand as well as driving consumer and industry engagement, while guiding...

Laundrylux Acquires Golden State Laundry Systems

Laundrylux, headquartered in Inwood, N.Y., has acquired the assets of California-based Golden State Laundry Systems. “We are thrilled to partner with Mike and Laura Hurrell and the Golden State team in San Diego, Los Angeles and the Bay Area to serve the...

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...