The Business of Laundry: Models That Work

In today’s laundromat industry, one truth holds across every market, model and mission: success requires more than just machines. Today’s operators must choose business models strategically, execute consistently, and lead with intention. Some lean into simple,...

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...

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...

Safety First, Last… Always

The Laundromat Owner’s Guide to Preventing Accidents, Protecting Your Business, and Controlling Your Insurance Costs As more and more entrepreneurs are discovering, running a laundromat can be a hugely rewarding business. But it also comes with its own set of risks...

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Taking Care of Business

Jan 27, 2015

Originally posted - Jan issue/2012 Here's How Four Laundry Owners Diversified Their Operations with Commercial Accounts In the laundry business, an idle machine is a missed chance to gain needed revenue – and it's an opportunity that can never be recovered. Perhaps no...

At the Breaking Point?

Jan 27, 2015

Originally posted - May issue/2012 Today's Industry Manufacturers Sound Off on a Balancing Act They All Face – The One Between Washability and Energy Efficiency Industry manufacturers have always faced the challenge of producing commercial equipment that would clean...

Marketing on a Shoestring

Jan 27, 2015

Originally posted - Oct 14, 2014 Whether you're a single-store laundry owner new to the business or a multi-store operator with years of industry experience under your belt, you both share the same dilemma – how to effectively market and promote your business on a...

Headlines

Whirlpool Enters into Agreement to Acquire ADC

Whirlpool Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire American Dryer Corp., which manufactures and markets coin-operated, on-premise, industrial and specialty laundry equipment. The planned acquisition gives Whirlpool's commercial laundry business a platform to...

Setomatic/SpyderWash Names New Director of Sales and Operations

Gregg Schantz Promoted to Further Oversee the Company's Continued Growth Setomatic Systems/SpyderWash has announced the promotion of Gregg Schantz to director of sales and operations. Since joining the company full time in 2013, Schantz has helped support SpyderWash...

Avoiding Surprises

Running a small business is far from an exact science. And operating a self-service laundry – with all of the market-by-market idiosyncrasies this entails – at times can be even less of a sure thing. With PlanetLaundry's cover story in May focusing on industry myths...

Huebsch Announces Store Owner of the Quarter

John D. Dixon Recognized for National Laundry in Dickson, Tenn. Huebsch recently named John D. Dixon its Store Owner of the Quarter for his National Laundry, which is located in Dickson, Tenn. Dixon "transformed a rundown store into a thoughtfully designed,...

Cash is King

An Interview with Texas Laundry Owner Bruce Walker Bruce Walker and his wife, Julie, have been in the self-service laundry business since 2002. They own Wash It Kwik, a 3,000-square-foot card-operated store with 82 washers and dryers in Denton, Texas. How did you get...

Listen Here…..

Developing Your Listening Skills Will Help to Make You a Much Better Laundry Owner Open any anatomy book (or just look in the mirror), and you will quickly see that members of the human species have two ears and one mouth. Perhaps the original designer had in mind, as...

Wash with Wally: Thoughts on Free Dry

I own a laundry business that has been in my family for 40 years. Although it does well, someone is building a new self-service laundry just a mile and a half away from my store. I've been considering offering free dry. What do you think about this strategy? I think...

Maytag Distributors Celebrate 16th Annual ‘May is Maytag Month’

Honoring the company's heritage and legacy, several Maytag Commercial Laundry distributors across North America are hosting open houses and service schools during "May is Maytag Month." These events will provide information on new laundry equipment, as well as feature...

Business Bio: Laundry World, Falls Church, Va.

Blair and Charlie Johnson Laundry World Falls Church, Va. Before Getting Into the Laundry Business… Blair is a third-generation laundromat owner. In 1970, Blair's father, Charlie, and his father purchased their first two stores. Blair has been working in the laundry...

Clean 2015: A Recap from Atlanta

Looking Back on the Industry's Trade Show and Convention For first-time attendees, the sheer size and scope of the Clean Show can be a lot to take in. "When I first walked in, it was a bit overwhelming," described Alabama laundry owner Ken Barrett, of this year's...

Clean 2015: A Recap from Atlanta

Originally posted - July issue/2012 I have owned a small, unattended laundromat for four years. I am by no means an expert in the field. However, there are two bits of advice I might be able to give regarding what could potentially cause a business to fail, and...

Shattering the Myths

Veteran Laundry Operators Dispel Some Popular Industry Misconceptions – And Share Their Own Personal Business Surprises The good news is that today there in more information available to new laundry owners and prospective investors than ever before. The bad news is...

Scaling Wash & Fold Operations

Learn how to grow your wash & fold from an offering into a money-making operation.

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This Month's Issue

Tech on the Rise: How Operators Are Using Innovation to Run Smarter, Faster Laundromats: From AI phone systems to real-time data tracking, operators and suppliers share how technology is reshaping the modern laundry business and what’s coming next.
Business Profile: Delivering a Superior
Laundry Experience
Member Spotlight: Rick Rome –
Innovating Laundry, One Customer at a Time
Guest Column: How AI Changed Google Reviews (What Laundromat Owners Need to Know)
And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

Clean 2017: Exhibit Space Sold Out

For the first time in 20 years, exhibit space for the Clean Show is completely sold out. The biennial event, which is celebrating its 40-year anniversary this year, is scheduled for June 5-8 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.In addition, attendee registration also is...

Giant Wash to Kick Off ‘Wash & Learn’ Program During Free Laundry Day

Giant Wash Coin Laundry, located in St. Paul, Minn., will launch a new "Wash & Learn"program on May 12, in conjunction with a free laundry day at the store. The laundromat will host the free laundry event in celebration of the new program, and offer community...

CBORD, Washlava Partner to Provide a More Convenient Student Laundry Experience

CBORD, a provider of technology solutions for colleges and universities, and Washlava, a technology company modernizing self-service laundry through its mobile application, have announced their partnership, which features the integration of Washlava into CBORD's...

Profit Symposium Attracts Record Numbers

Continental Girbau West and Elite Business Investments recently hosted the Conference of Champions Profit Symposium in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. The event, which focused on ways to improve vended laundry profits and attract new customers, drew record numbers. The...

WASH Upgrades Laundry Rooms with PayRange Mobile Payment

WASH Multifamily Laundry Systems - which has more than 7 million people doing their laundry in its WASH-branded laundry rooms every week throughout the U.S. and Canada - has selected PayRange to be the technology provider of its mobile payment solution, thus marking a...