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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A Sense of Community

Jan 26, 2015

Originally posted - Dec 20, 2013 When the Tasty Baking Company (makers of the popular Tastykake line of snack foods) decided to relocate its production facility, the move opened up a 30-acre parcel of prime real estate in northern Philadelphia, where the company's...

A New Beginning

Jan 26, 2015

Originally posted - Jan 27, 2014 After years of unclogging other people's pipes as a licensed master plumber, Florida's Willy Gibson turned his attention to a completely different type of pipe, as the co-owner - along with his wife Margie - of a Pensacola-based smoke...

Second Time Around

Jan 26, 2015

Originally posted - Sep 24, 2013 Avenue Coin Laundry in Libertyville, Ill., opened its doors for the first time this past July. However, store owner Ron Parsons is hardly new to the self-service laundry industry. "In 1979, I bought a place called the Carousel Coin...

Headlines

Put Your Energy Costs in ‘Reverse’

Originally posted - Apr 11, 2014 Written By: Mustafa Oluwa If your business is located in an area where energy has been deregulated, identifying and locking in the lowest electricity and natural gas rates is, of course, the prudent thing to do. The benefits of energy...

From Average to awesome (Part 2)

Originally posted - Jun 20, 2014 [This is the second in a two-part series on fine-tuning the wash-dry-fold process.] In my previous article, our focus was three-fold: consistency, sorting and washing. This time, we will complete the wash-dry-fold process by targeting...

Staying on Schedule

[ Originally posted - Apr 11, 2012 All dryers require regular attention to keep them operating at their peak performance level. Failure to address routine maintenance issues on dryers can significantly increase operating costs and, in the case of coin laundries, can...

Put Your Energy Costs in ‘Reverse’

Originally posted - Apr 11, 2014 Written By: Mustafa Oluwa If your business is located in an area where energy has been deregulated, identifying and locking in the lowest electricity and natural gas rates is, of course, the prudent thing to do. The benefits of energy...

Remote Possibilities

Orignally posted - May 01, 2014 Roseville, Calif., November 2012 – The phone rings at 11:30 p.m. Caller: Hello, Ms. Dower? Me: Yes? Caller: This is Roseville Police Department. Me: How may I help you? Roseville Dispatcher: You have a customer who has called 911...

Scalability: Thoughts on Growing Your Business

Originally posted - Jul 26, 2013 Many business books talk about how entrepreneurs often find themselves caught up in the day-to-day struggle for survival, putting out fires here and there just to stay in business. He (the entrepreneur) didn't realize the enormous...

Remote Possibilities

Orignally posted - May 01, 2014 Roseville, Calif., November 2012 – The phone rings at 11:30 p.m. Caller: Hello, Ms. Dower? Me: Yes? Caller: This is Roseville Police Department. Me: How may I help you? Roseville Dispatcher: You have a customer who has called 911...

‘Tapping’ into Today’s Technology

Orignally posted - Dec 01, 2014 For the most part, our industry is the same throughout from store to store. Each laundromat features basically the same setup: washers and dryers for a set price, folding tables, carts, maybe some vending machines and possibly an...

Be Your Own Competition

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...

Less is More

Originally posted - Oct 04, 2012 All five of my laundromats are strictly self-service operations – no wash-dry-fold service, no commercial accounts, no coffee shop. I do just one thing… and strive to do it very well. As small-business owners, we get offered all types...

Seeing the Light

Originally posted - Feb 26, 2014 An energy-efficient retrofit from T8 fluorescent lighting to state-of-the-art LED tubes at Holmen Coin Laundry in Holmen, Wis., will deliver savings on the owner's electric bill of more than 60 percent. Owner Karl Maas operates 31...

Less is More

Originally posted - Oct 04, 2012 All five of my laundromats are strictly self-service operations – no wash-dry-fold service, no commercial accounts, no coffee shop. I do just one thing… and strive to do it very well. As small-business owners, we get offered all types...

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

Huebsch Names Store Owner of the Quarter

Huebsch has named Adam Dixon the latest recipient of its Store Owner of the Quarter Award. Dixon, who decided he needed a career change, closed his chiropractic practice and built Duck River Laundry in Shelbyville, Tenn. "The laundry Adam opened is an example of the...

Illinois CLA Continues to Battle Chicago Water Tax; Ordinance Introduced

As reported here earlier, Chicago has begun implementing a large tax on city water. The first tax of 7.5 percent was put in place in March and will continue to climb over the next four years, until it reaches a rate of 30 percent. What's more, this doesn't take into...

Dexter University Hosts Service Academy

Dexter Laundry recently hosted many of the industry's leading service technicians during its Dexter University – Service Academy. Representing more than 200 years of experience in the laundry industry, the Service Academy attendees included technicians who are...

Big Fish ’17 Raises Big Bucks for LaundryCares Foundation

The social group known as Big Fish held its annual outing this past September, with an aim toward fishing, fellowship and fundraising. This year's gathering of laundromat industry veterans yielded plenty of lunkers at Tetu Island Lodge in northwest Ontario, but the...

Aaxon Event Draws New Investors

Aaxon Laundry Systems, based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., held its second annual Aaxon Autumn Expo on October 3 at the company's headquarters. Leading industry vendors - including SpyderWash, ESD, Imonex, Rowe and others - were on hand to meet with attendees about their...