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...

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.

Safeguarding Your Investment

Safeguarding Your Investment

Here Are Three Key Insurance Coverages to Keep Your Eyes on During Today’s Challenging Market Conditions The last few years have been challenging both for businesses and the insurance industry. After years of stability, a confluence of factors has led insurance...

Playing the Numbers Game

Playing the Numbers Game

A Closer Look at the Operational Metrics and Key Data Laundromat Owners Should Monitor to Stay on Track for Success In the February issue of PlanetLaundry, some of the most successful laundromat operators in the U.S. shared the key performance indicators they use to...

Pickup-and-Delivery Pricing Done Right

Pickup-and-Delivery Pricing Done Right

Are You Charging ‘By the Bag’ or ‘By the Pound?’ I don’t think any of us would be surprised to hear that pickup and delivery is the hot topic in our industry today. In fact, this month I presented a keynote presentation on this very topic at the inaugural Laundromat...

Headlines

Our Industry is Alive, Well… And Thriving

Having now had the opportunity to fully digest my time at last month’s Clean Show in Atlanta, I’m happy to report that the self-service laundry industry – as well as the residential wash-dry-fold and pickup-and-delivery segments of the business – are alive and well....

‘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...

Huebsch Honors Top Distributors

Huebsch recently honored its top-performing distributors of 2021 at an awards ceremony at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, held in conjunction with this year’s Clean Show. The manufacturer presented Aaxon Laundry Equipment of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with its Distributor of...

HappyNest Continues Chicago Expansion

Laundry pickup-and-delivery service HappyNest has expanded within the Chicago market, now available in eastern portion of the city through its new laundromat partner, Easy Clean Laundry. The company had expanded westward earlier this year. “HappyNest was the obvious...

ARM & HAMMER Laundry Partners with Dress for Success

ARM & HAMMER Laundry has continued its support of Dress for Success, a global not-for-profit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence. Building on a two-year partnership, ARM & HAMMER Laundry will serve as presenting sponsor of the...

Whirlpool Named One of the Top Companies for Multicultural Women

Whirlpool Corp. recently was recognized as one of Seramount’s 2022 Best Companies for Multicultural Women. The award recognizes companies that create and use the best hiring practices while retaining and promoting multicultural women in the United States. “Inclusion...

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...

EVI Industries to Acquire Aldrich Clean-Tech Equipment Corp.

EVI Industries Inc. has announced that it executed a definitive agreement to acquire Aldrich Clean-Tech Equipment Corp., a commercial laundry distributor headquartered in Worcester, Mass. The acquisition will expand EVI’s sales and service presence within the...

Speed Queen Recognizes Star Distributing with Top Honor

Speed Queen recently honored its top distributors at an evening reception held in Atlanta, prior to this year’s Clean Show. “It was certainly an inspiring evening to have the whole Speed Queen commercial family in one room again and to celebrate their collective...

Word to the Wise, Part 2

Laundromat Owners Share Best Practices for Long-Term Success [This is the second of the two-part feature article. Read Part 1 here.] Several leading laundromat owners share their best business and operational advice, tips and strategies for new store operators and...

CLA Update: Meetings, Meetings… And More Meetings

CLA Boasts a Packed Lineup of Educational and Networking Opportunities for Laundromat Owners This Fall The Coin Laundry Association has a full schedule of meetings – both in-person and virtual – lined up for the rest of 2022. On the heels of this summer’s hugely...

Mr Jeff Laundry Franchise Expands Internationally

Spanish startup Jeff has announced plans to open 10 new Mr Jeff laundry service franchises in the Philippines in 2022. “We feel very confident about the rest of 2022, and we are already helping our partner entrepreneurs to find the best locations and build their shops...

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Scaling Wash & Fold Operations

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September Magazine Issue

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

Lawmakers Look to Ban Natural Gas in Commercial Buildings

In January, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission created a flurry of controversy over a rumored proposal to restrict the use of gas-powered stoves in homes. Although fears over that federal proposal were exaggerated, state and local lawmakers have been active...

Service Taxes: An Update on State Sales Tax Expansion

State legislators continue to express ongoing interest in expanding the sales tax to new services, according to MultiState Associates, a government relations firm headquartered in Alexandria, Va. Here’s a look at where those efforts stand: Income tax...

Wash Day Offering WDF Services at Walmart Locations in Delaware

Wash-dry-fold and drycleaning services are now available at three Walmart Supercenters in Delaware. Through a new company called Wash Day, customers can drop off their laundry at the local Walmart and receive a text message when the clothes are ready to be picked up....

Alliance Laundry Systems Distribution Expands West

Alliance Laundry Systems has acquired the distribution assets of Taylor Houseman, based in Pittsburg, Calif. Taylor Houseman boasts more than two decades of experience providing commercial laundry solutions throughout northern California. “This acquisition further...

Cents Unveils New Marketing Tool for Laundry Owners

Laundromat technology provider Cents has launched an integrated marketing suite called Cents Accelerate – which provides the company’s customers with a website, email, and SMS marketing tools developed exclusively for laundry business owners. Created to enable laundry...

FROM YOUR FAVORITE INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Columns

The Laundry Doctor

Building a Winning Team, Part 2

How to Quickly Track a New Hire's Progress and Likelihood of Success Right from the Beginning [This is the second of a three-part series on hiring and training laundry attendants.] Last month, in the first of our series on attendants, I noted that it was important to...

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The Business Mind

Understanding Our Economic Behavior

Understanding Our Economic Behavior

How Our Psychological Makeup Impacts Our Financial Decisions I’ve consulted with a great many laundromat owners over the years. And nearly all of them have been preoccupied with their financial decisions – either those that had been made in the past or those that the...

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Wash With Wally

Wash with Wally: Preventing Dryer Fires

Wash with Wally: Preventing Dryer Fires

I own three self-service laundries, and I’ve been plagued with dryer fires. I have the ductwork cleaned every three years. What can I do to prevent these fires? What am I missing? One of the problems I notice in a lot of laundries is that the ductwork has been...

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Viewpoint

Digital Marketing

Marketing Your Multi-Store Operation

Marketing Your Multi-Store Operation

To Grow Your Vended Laundry Business, Focus on Four Key Factors Here’s a fact that shouldn’t surprise you by now: More than half of all purchases are influenced by a digital presence. You, your neighbors and the strangers across town are all Googling (and maybe...

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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.