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...

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....

PlanetLaundry Podcast

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Headlines

Stain Removal: Back to Basics

Originally posted - Aug 27, 2014 I get calls from laundry owners every week, asking a number of questions about different ways to enhance their drop-off laundry businesses. However, the most common queries I receive revolve around stain removal. So, let's go back to...

Stains Are Not Created Equal

Originally posted - Apr 04, 2014 When it comes to drop-off laundry, there are different levels of wash-dry-fold service. And it's up to each individual owner to define what that level of service should be for his or her particular store. For instance, I recently spoke...

Uniformity

Originally posted - Oct 06, 2014 Many laundry owners looking to add commercial work to their service menu often fail to consider a fairly simple and yet quite lucrative type of account – company uniforms. Yes, it's true that the large commercial cleaners have been...

Avoid Customer Complaints… Before They Ever Occur

Originally posted - Apr 22, 2014 Professional drycleaners have a number of releases they have their customers fill out, because of all the delicate and specialty items they handle – such as silk, leather and so on. In essence, these drycleaners are telling their...

Community Service

Orginally posted - Jan 02, 2013 Your laundromat is a crucial part of the neighborhood in which it's located. And, as a small-business owner, you need to recognize this fact and do what you can to strengthen that bond with those within your community. Whenever I look...

There’s New Business Right Under Your’s Feet

Originally posted - Jul 25, 2012 If you're considering adding some commercial work to your store's self-service business or if you're already servicing some commercial accounts, one of the most often-overlooked niches of the commercial segment are walk off floor mats...

Reflecting on Injecting

Originally posted - Feb 10, 2014 In past columns, we've discussed all of the different types of products and chemicals than can be used to successfully handle heavy-duty commercial accounts, as well as to service some of the more challenging wash-dry-fold orders. With...

Tiering Up

Originally posted - Aug 02, 2013 Over the last decade, every major manufacturer has introduced the ability to offer multiple pricing levels on their washers. For the most part, this technological development has been driven by the demand of self-service laundry owners...

The ‘Inn’ Crowd

Originally posted - Nov 16, 2012 One of the most profitable and high-volume commercial accounts a self-service laundry owner can acquire is a small hotel. Typically, such accounts are 20- to 45-room hotels that may or may not have their own laundry facilities – and...

Leather… Or Not?

Originally posted - Oct 25, 2013 If you offer a wash-dry-fold service, you will from time to time take in some leather garments. But don't be afraid of them. Leather cleaning is one of the easiest types of cleaning you can do, since most stains don't really soak into...

Plan Your Work… Work Your Plan

Originally posted - Jul 18, 2014 When I first got into the laundry business, I was skeptical as to whether or not I needed to write a business plan. However, it was something the SBA required (or at least strongly encouraged), so I went through the process of creating...

Playing ‘Tag’ with Wash-Dry-Fold Business

Originally posted - Jun 25, 2013 As your wash-dry-fold business grows from doing just a few loads at a time to handling several loads simultaneously, one of the biggest challenges you'll face is simply keeping track of all the orders that come in. It's critical to...

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June 2025 Cover of PlanetLaundry Magazine

This Month's Issue

 

  • Green is Good Business: Green Operations Increasingly Important to Feed Consumer Demand
  • Women In Laundry: Lee Ann Geurts Loves a Challenge
  • Store Profile: Kings Laundry Kicking it in Los Angeles
  • Untapped Growth Opportunities
  • And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

Spynr Launches Educational Effort in Run-Up to Clean 2017

Digital marketing company Spynr Inc. has launched an educational campaign designed to help laundry owners understand the importance of their online presence. Dubbed "Where's Lauren," the campaign follows the online journey of a store operator's perfect customer...

Continental Girbau Begins Two-Phase Expansion Project

Continental Girbau Inc. recently broke ground on its third facility expansion since 2000. The two-phase project comes as a result of growing sales, product offerings and staff, according to President Mike Floyd. “Business is so strong that we need more space for our...

Kozlik Joins Standard Change-Makers’ Sales Team

Standard Change-Makers Inc. has named Tom Kozlik its new regional sales representative for the western United States. Kozlik’s responsibilities will include working with distributors in all of the industries the company serves – including laundry, car wash, vending...

Commercial Equipment Company to Host 50th Anniversary Open House

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, Commercial Equipment Company is inviting laundry owners and potential investors to its annual Open House, Service School and Equipment Showcase. This event will be held on May 20 at the company’s new 30,000-square-foot...

FROM YOUR FAVORITE INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Columns

The Laundry Doctor

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The Business Mind

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Wash With Wally

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Viewpoint

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Digital Marketing

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Strategic Corporate Allies Program

Our Strategic Corporate Allies support CLA’s mission through advocacy, education, and innovation to strengthen the industry, advance our members’ businesses, and prepare the next generation of laundry professionals for the future.

Interested in becoming a Strategic Corporate Ally of CLA? Contact President & CEO, Brian Wallace via email at [email protected] or call (630) 491-0499.