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....

Member Spotlight: Lab-Tested, Laundry-Approved

How Laundry Labs Plans to Change the Industry In today’s business world, efficiency and quality are paramount – and the commercial laundry industry is no exception. Recognizing the need for superior cleaning solutions specifically tailored to laundromat operators,...

Wash-Dry-Fold POS Launches New Feature

Wash-Dry-Fold POS® has announced its new Attendant Checklist Feature. According to Managing Partner Ian Gollahon, it is a simple but integrated tool that is so powerful, it’ll make you wonder how you ever ran your business without it. "You can monitor the checklist...

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What Does My Gas Bill Mean?

Jan 28, 2015

Originally posted - Jan 27, 2012 To understand how our utilities affect our bottom lines, we've got to understand our utility bills. Since I'm often asked to do analyses on energy savings, I've gotten a lot of practice at reading natural gas bills. In this article,...

So Many Reasons for Optimism

Jan 28, 2015

Originally posted - Jan 26, 2012 Despite all of the economic gloom and doom we've endured in recent years, I'm seeing some strong reasons for optimism in 2012, especially for coin laundry owners. And the best reason to be optimistic is because most of you reading this...

Can You Accept EBT Cards at Your Store?

Jan 28, 2015

Originally posted - Dec 28, 2012 The subject of EBT, or Electronic Benefit Transfer, acceptance has been a topic of discussion that is increasing in frequency among today's self-service laundry owners. The question of whether this new form of benefits payment can be...

Headlines

Huebsch Announces Its Store Owner of the Quarter

Ohio Owner Grows Successful Four-Store Operation Huebsch has named Jim Adams the latest recipient of its Store Owner of the Quarter Award for the growth and success of his four Jennifer Haley's Coin Laundromats in Ohio. "Jim has an ambitious spirit and strong work...

Clean n Green Laundromat

Wayne and Nick Bernaiche Clean n Green Laundromat, LLC Glastonbury, Conn. Business Philosophy and Vision "Our vision for this store - and the trend we see occurring around the country with other new successful ventures - is that pride in the business, above and beyond...

Let’s Build on the Many Successes of 2015

As we head into 2016, I'd like to reflect on some of the successes of 2015. In my mind, the greatest accomplishment of 2015 was the Coin Laundry Association's revitalization of its LaundryCares Foundation. As many of you know, LaundryCares has been around since 2006,...

Wash with Wally: Mattress Pads, Mildew Odor and More…

I'm toying with the idea of opening a store that caters strictly to drop-off laundry customers, with no self-service business at all. The location I'm considering is densely populated, with residents in the upper-middle income range. What do you think? The drop-off...

Primus Partners with U.S. Distributors

Vended, On-Premises Laundry Equipment Now Available Through 15 Companies Primus has announced its partnership with 15 distributors throughout the United States. "With cutting edge technology and quality manufacturing, Primus is the industry leader in Europe," said...

‘My Biggest Mistake’

Store Owners Share Some of Their Laundry Business Miscues "We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience." – George Washington Even successful, long-time laundry owners make...

What’s Next?

An Interview with Author and Demographics Expert Paul Taylor Paul Taylor is the author of "The Next America: Boomers, Millennials and the Looming Generational Showdown." The book draws on his work at the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan "fact tank" that provides...

Finding a Winner

The Four Factors That Determine a Successful Coin Laundry Location [This article originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of The Journal of Coin Laundry and Drycleaning. This is the first in an ongoing, periodic series, in which we will resurrect some of the...

Tax Tips for Self-Service Laundry Owners

Smart Moves for Your Money in 2016 In my opinion, the best tax shelter that exists is a retirement plan. The most common retirement plans are IRA's (Individual Retirement Accounts), profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans, SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) plans, defined...

More Thoughts Off the Top of My Head

Observations on Life and the Laundry Business - The Sequel Just over a year ago, I wrote a column in this space, which was entitled, "Thoughts Off the Top of My Head."And it was so well-received that I felt a sequel was in order. As I noted in the original article,...

The Ozone Revolution

If You Haven't Thought About Adding Ozone Injection to Your Laundry Operation, Now Is the Time to Start Considering It I was in my office at my store recently when one of my attendants came in and told me there was someone there who wanted to speak with me. As it...

University of Arkansas Kicks Off ‘Wash Time Is Talk Time’

Free Books Provided During Event at Westwood Laundromat On December 4, Westwood Laundromat in Rogers, Ark., gave out free children's books to its customers, kicking off the northwest Arkansas "Wash Time is Talk Time"program. This initiative is part of the Laundry...

This Month's Issue

Metrics That Matter: Profit, Performance, and Planning in Vended Laundry
Women In Laundry: Haley Gould Finds Perfect Fit
Company Close-Up: Company Founded to Help Small Businesses Shines
New Member Spotlight: How Robotics Could Change Laundromat Industry
And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

Two New Opportunities for CLA Members

The Coin Laundry Association has announced two new opportunities for its members to become involved – as speakers and sponsors – with the organization’s upcoming CLA Connect LIVE events in 2019. All members are invited to share their expertise and...

Teeters to Host Open House

Teeters Products will hold its annual open house on November 14 at the company's headquarters in Fletcher, Ohio. This theme of this year's event is "Taking Your Laundromat to the Next Level"- with a focus on next level product performance, efficiency, engineering,...

Laundry Concepts Adds to Sales Team

Laundry Concepts has named David Gradle the newest member of the company's sales team. Prior to joining Laundry Concepts, Gradle spent 10 years working for an automatic door company, where he compiled bids utilizing architectural plans, met with prospects, presented...

Continental Promotes Kilgore to Director of Customer Experiences

Continental Girbau Inc. has promoted Laurie Kilgore to director of customer experiences. In this newly created position, Kilgore spearheads the development and evaluation of strategic, tactical and operational customer engagement plans, programs and initiatives....

Laundry One Hosts Open House, Adds New Branch Office

Nearly 100 laundry owners and managers attended Laundry One's inaugural open house and service school at the company's headquarters in Canal Winchester, Ohio. The event featured a presentation by Coin Laundry Association COO Michael Sokolowski, who discussed "Industry...