Longtime Laundromat Owner on 23 Years of Service, Challenges, Community Impact

For more than two decades, Lee Ann Geurts has been a steady force in her Brooklyn Park community in Minnesota, running three laundromats that have become known not just for clean clothes, but for connection, comfort, and care. What began as a business venture for her...

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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Buyer Beware

Jan 23, 2015

Originally posted - Jan 25, 2013 George Morgan has seen it before. "A lot of people fall in love with the idea of being a laundry owner," said the president of Best Laundry Brokers, headquartered in Grass Valley, Calif. "They get so enamored with this feeling. They...

You Need to Get Your Hands Dirty

Jan 23, 2015

Originally posted - Feb 21, 2013 The first thing most people notice when walking into Pokomoke Laundry are the dryers - or, more specifically, the area around and above the dryers. Instead of the usual painted drywall littered with the typical laundromat signage, this...

‘From Wall Street to Main Street’

Jan 23, 2015

Originally posted - Aug 06, 2013 At first glance, Bronxville, N.Y., is perhaps one of the last places one would even consider opening a coin laundry. According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, the median household income in Bronxville is $144,940, and the...

Headlines

Diversifying His Portfolio

Originally posted - April issue/2012 Entrepreneur Adds Two Self-Service Laundries to a Mix of Business Ventures Clearly, Kwah Wai Pang likes to stay busy. With a background that includes general management, administration, computing operations, programming, and system...

Jack of All Trades

Originally posted - July issue/2012 Illinois Entrepreneur Adds 24-Hour Laundromat to a Varied Business Mix For many, the career path to coin laundry ownership is a long and winding one, with several detours along the way - but perhaps none more so than the road Kevin...

What’s Next for Utilities?

Originally posted - Dec 09, 2014 The Energy Information Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing and disseminating energy information to promote...

Designing Woman

Originally posted - Oct 24, 2014 Deborah Burnett is an award-winning, internationally recognized registered interior designer, lighting practitioner, keynote presenter and author. Over her 30-year professional career, Burnett – a principal and partner in the Benya...

Gaining a Competitive Advantage

Originally posted - Jan 24, 2014 Dr. Chuck Bamford is the founder of Bamford Associates, LLC. He has worked with thousands of managers over the last 20 years in the development of implementable strategic plans and an entrepreneurial orientation to growth. He worked in...

Teamwork

Originally posted - Jun 25, 2014 [This is the first of a two-part series on ways to build a successful team of laundry attendants.] Perhaps it's easy for the uninitiated to underestimate the job that self-service laundry attendants perform. However, their duties...

Get in the Game

Originally posted - Aug 26, 2014 For many self-service laundry owners, the coin-operated amusement industry may be an untapped business opportunity. Games and other arcade-style machines offer outstanding profit potential for store operators who are willing to pursue...

2013: The Year in Review

Originally posted - Dec 09, 2013 In odd-numbered years, nothing that happens in the self-service laundry business can top the spectacle of The Clean Show. And 2013 – with the industry's trade show and convention in New Orleans – was no exception. "One of the major...

Turning Point

Originally posted - Jun 17, 2014 Erik Sparks has been a professional pilot for more than 20 years, having spent the last 18 of those years flying for a charter airline – Ryan International Airlines. Over the years, Sparks has flown a diverse list of operations. Those...

Upwardly Mobile

Originally posted - Oct 02, 2013 On average, adults spend more than two hours every day on their smartphones or using their tablets, according to research by Advertising Age. What's more, nine out of 10 mobile searches lead to an action, and more than 50 percent lead...

The New Normal?

Originally - Sep 16, 2014 Technically, the Great Recession lasted from December 2007 to June 2009. That's what the economists and history books will tell you. However, some laundry professionals might have a slightly different timeline. It began with the bursting of...

Taking a New Route

Originally posted - May 28, 2014 Each year, billions of dollars go through apartment laundry rooms, which provide basically the same service your laundromat offers. And, although the target demographics for self-service laundries and apartment laundry rooms are...

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

Connecting, Learning, Advocating: CLA Maximizes Impact at Clean Show 2025
Member Spotlight: Finding a Niche in the Laundromat Industry
PlanetLaundry Podcast: Turning Setbacks into Success: Saichelle McNeill’s Journey
A Laundromat With Heart: Inside Cherry Drive’s Customer-First Approach
And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

CLA ‘Meet-Up’ Brings Industry Together in Atlanta, Follow-Up Event Announced

On August 30, after a several-year hiatus, the Coin Laundry Association hosted a "meet-up" in Atlanta for the Georgia vended laundry industry. Nearly 60 attendees gathered for a networking lunch, educational sessions and fellowship with their peers. The program was...

Setomatic/SpyderWash Names Director of Sales, Announces Promotions

Setomatic Systems/SpyderWash has named John Kelly its new director of sales. Kelly – who has worked in the commercial laundry industry since graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2011 – most recently served as a regional sales manager for Speed...

PayRange Helps Raise Funds for Victims of Hurricane Harvey

With the devastating impact of Hurricane Harvey, PayRange - headquartered in Portland, Ore. - has launched a fundraising campaign within its app across all PayRange-enabled machines in the U.S. to benefit victims of the storm. Users will be able to add $1 to their...

LG Breaks Ground On Home Washer Plant in U.S.

LG Electronics recently took a ceremonial step closer to domestic manufacturing when dignitaries, including U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, joined management in breaking ground on the company's first U.S. appliance plant....

Overbuilding Slows Multi-Family Housing Market

Over the last year, the multi-family housing market has been lukewarm, to say the least. In fact, ITR Economics - which produces quarterly economic reports for Coin Laundry Association members - recently noted that the single-family market currently outnumbers the...