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.

When the Dry Goes Well…

When the Dry Goes Well…

From Equipment Mix to Payment Structure, Here’s How Laundry Owners are Fitting Dryers into The Overall Business Equation Despite major advances in high-speed washer extraction technology, a laundromat completely free of dryers is still nowhere on the horizon. At the...

CLA Member of the Year

CLA Member of the Year

An Interview with Multi-Store Owner Michael Finkelstein Michael Finkelstein began his professional career as a broker manager for Georgia Pacific, where he worked with supermarkets in the Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia territories. In 1983,...

Maintaining the Ideal: The Keys to Optimum Dryer Care

Maintaining the Ideal: The Keys to Optimum Dryer Care

An Interview with Whirlpool Customer Relations Manager Joe Carrita Joe Carrita has spent more than 23 years in the commercial laundry industry, with a special focus on the on-premises laundry market and customer service. He recently discussed the latest in dryer care...

Headlines

‘Like a Fine Gumbo’

A Literacy Theme Runs Throughout Famed New Orleans Laundromat/Restaurant Combo Jane and Scott Wolfe, who own Wash World laundromat in New Orleans, are not novices when it comes to incorporating a literacy theme into their business ventures. In fact, the Wolfes also...

LaundryCares to Host Free Laundry, Literacy Day in Indianapolis

On Thursday, June 10, the LaundryCares Foundation will host a Free Laundry and Literacy Day, in collaboration with Too Small to Fail and Big Heart World. This event will be held from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Indyland II Laundromat in Indianapolis. Free Laundry and...

HappyNest Adds Customer Service Manager

Laundry pickup-and-delivery service HappyNest has named Alexandria Messom as manager, customer success. Messom previously served as team lead, customer onboarding at custom sports apparel provider, SquadLocker. “Our customers’ happiness is of utmost importance, as...

The Future of Wash-Dry-Fold

A Look at the Evolving Full-Service Laundry Business Model Long before COVID-19 turned many – at least for a while – into semi-reclusive shut-ins venturing out only as far as the front porch to retrieve their latest Amazon packages, numerous companies offering...

Wash with Wally: Installing Automatic Doors

I’m in the process of building a new laundromat from the ground up. The question I have is about the front and side doors to my facility. I’ve already decided that I will put in automatic doors. However, do you think I should install sliding or swinging doors? In your...

Creating a ‘Warm, Fuzzy Feeling’

Multi-Store Owner Explains How Commitment to Early Childhood Literacy Has Boosted Customer Loyalty A laundromat isn’t the easiest type of business in which to create that “warm, fuzzy feeling” for customers. Just ask Daryl Johnson who owns 10 (soon to be 11) Giant...

Payment Systems: Are You Confused Yet?

How to Decide Which Options Are Right for You and Your Business When I entered the industry in 2010, two types of payment systems were being widely used – quarters and prepaid loyalty cards. And quarters were the overwhelming favorite among store owners. In fact,...

Starchup, Drop Locker to Merge, Forming SUD Systems

Starchup and Laundry Locker, Inc. (dba Drop Locker) have entered into an agreement to merge the two companies into a new single entity – SUD Systems, LLC. Effective immediately, the two companies will begin to operate as a unified team, sharing the best from each...

Rinse Acquires ButlerBox

Rinse, a national brand in drycleaning and laundry delivery, has acquired ButlerBox, a Los Angeles-based drycleaning and laundry provider specializing in locker-based services with multifamily and commercial office partners. ButlerBox is the latest in a series of...

GNA Promotes Pollnow, Willman

Girbau North America has announced two promotions within the company. Brennan Pollnow has been named North American business manager, Girbau Industrial brand, and Tyler Willman has been promoted to regional business development manager – Canada and Northwestern U.S....

CCI, Cents Announce Partnership Agreement

Card Concepts Inc. has teamed up with Cents, a business management and in-store operations platform created for laundromats. The partnership between CCI and Cents will enable store owners to leverage CCI’s hardware and card technology, alongside Cents’ POS, online...

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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

ACI Names Senior Manager of Public Health

The American Cleaning Institute, the trade association for the cleaning products supply chain, has appointed Audrey McCalley as senior manager, public health. “Audrey joins ACI with a background in public health, clinical research, policy and sustainability,” said Dr....

A Surprise Trend: ‘Inflation Relief’ Tax Policy

Rising inflation levels have hit consumers hard, and state lawmakers have spent time trying to provide relief, including indexing income tax brackets, issuing taxpayer rebates, and adopting new sales tax exemptions. Georgia, Idaho, Indiana (with an expansion of a...

COVID Relief Bill Introduced

Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Ben Cardin recently introduced legislation to create what’s being called the Hard-Hit Small Business Relief Fund (S.4471). For small businesses demonstrating substantial losses in 2020 and 2021 due...

ICYMI: New York City Repeals Retail Laundry License Requirement

On July 18, 2021, New York City enacted Local Law 80 of 2021, which repeals the licensing requirement for retail laundries. This repeal went into effect on December 31, 2021. Beginning last December, a retail laundry license from the city’s Department of Consumer...

FROM YOUR FAVORITE INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Columns

The Laundry Doctor

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...

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The Business Mind

Hiring Good People

Here Are the Keys to Conducting an Effective Job Interview If you own or manage an attended laundry business, it's no secret that at some point in time you're definitely going to have to advertise for and interview prospective attendants. This task just comes with the...

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Wash With Wally

Viewpoint

Avoiding Surprises

Running a small business is far from an exact science. And operating a self-service laundry – with all of the market-by-market idiosyncrasies this entails – at times can be even less of a sure thing. With PlanetLaundry's cover story in May focusing on industry myths...

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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.