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

America’s #1 Resource for Vended Laundry News & Info

PlanetLaundry is the official publication of CLA and is trusted by thousands of laundry professionals to deliver the latest news and industry-specific topics.

The Best of Both Worlds

The Best of Both Worlds

With a Few Equipment Tweaks, California Laundromat Owners Expand Their Business – Catering to Self-Service and Full-Service Clients Alike Shortly after purchasing an existing laundromat near Palm Springs, Calif., Keith and Jacqueline Reed decided to make a few...

‘Helping Youth in Need’

‘Helping Youth in Need’

New York Laundry Owner Shares His Thoughts on Adding a Literacy Element to His Business Model Multi-store owner Steve Levine may be the perfect role model for the LaundryCares Foundation’s literacy programs and Family Read, Play & Learn Centers. After all, he’s...

Life of a Salesman

Life of a Salesman

An Interview with Bryan Maxwell of Western State Design Bryan Maxwell is the senior laundry specialist for Western State Design, a major laundry equipment distributor, headquartered in Hayward, Calif. Maxwell began with Western State in 1988 – selling industrial OPL...

Headlines

Wash with Wally: Removing Tar from Clothing

There’s a lot of road construction being done in the area around my laundromat, and the workers are bringing in a great deal of drop-off laundry. However, I’m having some problems removing tar from their work garments. Do you have any suggestions? Tar and concrete are...

Pellerin Milnor Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Pellerin Milnor Corp., headquartered in Kenner, La., is celebrating 75 years as a commercial laundry equipment manufacturer. Founded by W.A. Pellerin, his wife Mildred, his son Norvin, and brother-in-law A.W. “Jack” Walsdorf in 1947, Milnor – a name derived from...

Whirlpool Named to List of ‘Most Responsible Companies’

Whirlpool Corp. has landed in the No. 3 overall spot on Newsweek’s 2023 list of America’s Most Responsible Companies, up from the fourth position in 2021. The annual recognition, acknowledging the top 500 most responsible companies in the United States across 14...

Viewpoint: What a Year It Has Been

At the beginning of the year in this space, I posed the question: “What can the CLA do for you?” More than a catchy (and borrowed) tagline, it was a sincere effort to solicit feedback from CLA members – our customers – as to what they wanted the association to provide...

Going Forward… (Part 2)

Industry Insiders Recap the Past Year – And Look Closely at the Factors Shaping the Laundry Business in 2023 [This is the second of a two-part feature article reviewing the year in laundry and taking a glimpse at what 2023 and beyond might hold for store owners. You...

Alliance Laundry Systems Distribution Relocates Dallas Office

The Dallas-area headquarters of Alliance Laundry Systems Distribution has relocated to the Dallas suburb of Coppell, Texas. The office previously was based in Farmers Branch, Texas. “I can’t wait to open the doors of our new office to customers,” said Sam Husain,...

Iowa Laundry Hosts ‘Clean for a Cause’ Event

Clean Laundry in Ottumwa, Iowa, recently partnered with Whatsoever You Do Inc., a Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the less fortunate, during one of the laundromat’s “Clean for a Cause” charitable events. Clean Laundry co-founder Phil Akin...

Texas Laundromat Holds Coat Drive for Homeless

Gr8 Laundry in College Station, Texas, has teamed up with Hope’s Locker, an organization that helps homeless children within the area, to host a coat and blanket drive. “For us to be able to reach out and help however we can makes us feel good with what little bit we...

Alliance Acquires Laundry Equipment Services

Alliance Laundry Systems has expanded its direct distribution base with the acquisition of Laundry Equipment Services. The acquisition – Alliance’s fifth distributor asset purchase in the last two years – is the company’s latest move in a strategy “to bring...

Wash with Wally: Making ‘Scents’ of WDF Laundry

My store handles a good amount of wash-dry-fold laundry, and lately I’ve been using a lot of detergent and softener. When I approached my laundry attendants about this issue, they told me that many of the customers indicated that they wanted their clothes to smell...

Going Forward… (Part 1)

Industry Insiders Recap the Past Year – And Look Closely at the Factors Shaping the Laundry Business in 2023 [This is the first of a two-part feature article reviewing the year in laundry and taking a glimpse at what 2023 and beyond might hold for store owners.] It’s...

Milnor Honors Top Distributors

At this year’s Clean Show in Atlanta, Pellerin Milnor Corp. hosted a banquet and awards ceremony to celebrate outstanding sales efforts by its distributor network. “Pellerin Laundry Machinery Sales Company had a tremendous level of sales activity for 2021,” said Rick...

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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

CG West to Host Customer Appreciation Days

Continental Girbau West will host a three-day customer appreciation event on September 12-14 at the company’s headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. This free event, which will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day, is open to current and potential CG West...

Eastern Funding Bolsters Sales Team

Eastern Funding LLC – a financial lender to laundromats, industrial laundries, car washes, commercial vehicles, and other businesses – has announced that Raina Bass has joined the company as loan officer. Bass, who will focus on commercial laundry financing, joins...

Whirlpool Unveils New Technology Center

Whirlpool Corp. has unveiled a new, 153,000-square-foot technology center in St. Joseph, Mich. The more than $60 million project expands and replaces much of the current St. Joseph Technology Center – and represents the first of a three-phase plan to redesign an...

WashClub Expands DoorDash Partnership

WashClub, a New York-based on-demand laundry and drycleaning service, recently announced the expansion of its partnership with DoorDash to serve laundry customers in the Bronx. The laundry service first launched this offering to residents of Brooklyn and Queens in...

American Trade Magazines Names New Publisher

American Trade Magazines, LLC – the parent company of textile-care B2B publications American Coin-Op, American Drycleaner, and American Laundry News – has announced a change in leadership. Effective August 1, Associate Publisher and National Sales Director Donald...

FROM YOUR FAVORITE INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Columns

The Laundry Doctor

Clean 2017 Targets Full-Service Laundry Model

Laundry Apps and Organizational Tools for Processed Wash-Dry-Fold Orders on Display in Las VegasThis year's Clean Show was a huge hit on so many different levels – not the least of which being the new products and technologies now available to the wash-dry-fold...

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The Business Mind

Coming to Their Senses

Coming to Their Senses

Leverage the Five Senses to Impact Consumer Behavior As members of the human race, we all experience the world largely through our senses. And, by the way, so does the animal kingdom. However, unlike animals, we also boast well-developed intellectual skills that can...

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Wash With Wally

Viewpoint

Big in Japan

Big in Japan

I’m very fortunate that my career with the Coin Laundry Association has enabled me to travel internationally to the trade shows that serve our industry worldwide. Each of these opportunities yield great returns, as I learn more about the business and build...

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Digital Marketing

Building a New Relationship with Consumers

Customer Service in Today's Turbulent, Information-Driven World Let’s talk about where businesses are in the world right now. 2020 has been quite a year. And we’re only six months in, which makes everything that’s already happened seem just that much more dramatic....

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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.