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.

How Well Do You Know Your Business?

How Well Do You Know Your Business?

The Keys to Making Smart, Data-Driven Decisions for Your Laundromat The laundromat business is simple, right? You find a location with excellent traffic flow, super visibility, stellar demographics – and Voila! Decades of profits and business success are yours. Well,...

Doing Double Duty

Doing Double Duty

How to Maximize Revenue with Full-Service, After-Hours Work Savvy laundry owners often glean revenue from multiple services, even when it means processing full-service work after hours. Although growing the full-service side of your laundry business will take time, if...

A Lease You Can Live With

A Lease You Can Live With

Industry Professionals Share Tips and Strategies for Successful Lease Negotiation Securing an optimal lease is crucial for laundromat owners, impacting both financial stability and operational success. In the competitive landscape of commercial real estate, especially...

Headlines

The Unlikely Path

Cents’ Sivan Salem Discovers Passion and Purpose in the Laundromat Industry Sivan Salem is currently based in New York City and serves as director of product operations for Cents. After graduating from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, Salem...

LIG Health and Wellness Roundup

LIG Solutions, who CLA works with to provide members with healthcare options, has articles to help expand health and wellness awareness. • LIG Health And Wellness Round-Up – Fall 2024 Edition: a series of seasonal articles which you might find helpful • Produce You...

CLA Introduces Cash-Back Mastercard

CLA recently unveiled the CLA World Elite Business Mastercard, a financial solution crafted to cater exclusively to the distinctive financial needs of laundry owners. The CLA card offers up to 2.1 percent unlimited cash back on all purchases, 3 percent cash back on...

Elevating the Laundry Experience

Multi-Store Owners Launch Their First High-Speed Laundromat A new, 9,000-square-foot laundry recently opened in Rockford, Ill. – bringing a high-rental, low-income area renewed vitality and customers a quicker, more pleasant laundry experience. Kevin and Cindy Olson,...

Tech Talk

How Today’s Technology is Transforming Tomorrow’s Laundromat Industry In an era where convenience and efficiency are paramount, technology has become a game-changer for laundromats, transforming them from basic service providers into high-tech hubs of cleanliness....

Southeastern Laundry Equipment Acquires Cochrane Repair Service

Southeastern Laundry Equipment Sales, headquartered in Marietta, Ga., has acquired Cochrane Repair Service, a company specializing in commercial laundry equipment repair and maintenance throughout the Carolinas. Founded in 1983, Cochrane Repair Service provides...

Alliance Adds Industry Veteran to Sales Team

Alliance Laundry Systems has added Rick Case to its sales team. “Rick has a tremendous amount of industry experience and will make an immediate impact for our Alliance Laundry Systems Distribution team,” said Mike Hand, vice president, North America Commercial Central...

Alliance Distribution Expands West Region with New Acquisition

Alliance Laundry Systems has acquired the distribution assets of Bestway Laundry Solutions, headquartered in Corona, Calif. The distributorship is a leading provider of UniMac on-premises laundry equipment. “California is an area where we see excellent potential for...

How Well Do You Know Your Business?

The Keys to Making Smart, Data-Driven Decisions for Your Laundromat The laundromat business is simple, right? You find a location with excellent traffic flow, super visibility, stellar demographics – and Voila! Decades of profits and business success are yours. Well,...

Wash with Wally: Cross-Training Your Laundry Attendants

I recently hired a new attendant and have discovered that he possesses great mechanical skills. So, I was thinking of cross-training him to handle some of the more simple equipment issues that arise at my store, in addition of course to his attendant duties. Is there...

Laundry Industry Mourns Bob Cowen

Laundry industry pioneer Robert Clifford Cowen, an ownership partner in B&C Technologies, passed away peacefully at his home on September 13 at the age of 102. Cowen began his career in 1956 as an engineer and quickly became a driving force in the commercial...

SPONSORED CONTENT

Business Solutions

Laundromat Marketing

CleanCloud talks to industry experts about the tactics they use to attract new customers and encourage repeat business in our latest webinar

Watch Webinar

SPONSORED CONTENT

Stand out with an optimized online presence.

Stain Solutions Guide

Your go-to guide for using OxiClean™ Versatile Stain Remover — from laundry loads to facility messes. Download the free guide today!

Download Guide

September Magazine Issue

This Month's Issue

 

  • House of Laundromats: Real Estate Trends and What to Watch
  • Member Spotlight: Bringing a Century of Expertise to the Evolving Laundromat Industry
  • PlanetLaundry Podcast: Reimagining Community: How the Hub Laundromat Cafe is a Change Catalyst in Detroit
  • Women In Vended Laundry: How Adrienne Hurrington Keeps the Wheels Turning as SAMCO
  • And More…

THE LATEST ON LAUNDROMATS

Industry News

Setomatic Systems-SpyderWash Steps Up Its Support of the Industry

Setomatic Systems-SpyderWash, a longtime champion of the industry, has teamed up with the CLA, the laundry association, to take its support to a new level. The company is part of a year-long sponsorship initiative that will have benefits for the entire industry....

Aloha Laundry Life Acquired, Rebranded as kathy ireland Laundry

MainStreetChamber Holdings, a provider of intellectual property and brand licensing, recently acquired Dirty Laundry Solutions LLC, doing business as Aloha Laundry Life, and rebranded the company as kathy ireland Laundry. The company will focus on laundromat license...

Onnera Group Names New Head of Marketing

Onnera Group – an international business group providing equipment solutions worldwide, including laundry equipment – has appointed Dawn Nagle its marketing director in North America for the Fagor and Domus commercial laundry brands. With more than a decade of...

Cents Launches Call Center for Laundry Businesses

Business management platform Cents has launched Cents Assist, a call center and customer experience solution designed exclusively for laundry businesses. This new service combines AI-powered technology with human expertise to improve how laundry businesses handle...

Publication Recognizes Eastern Funding’s Karen Tennant

Karen Tennant, vice president of risk management for Eastern Funding, has been named to Monitor’s list of Top Women in Equipment Finance for 2024. The recognition highlights Tennant’s contributions and leadership within the industry, showcasing her dedication and hard...

FROM YOUR FAVORITE INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Columns

The Laundry Doctor

The Business Mind

Relatively Speaking

Relatively Speaking

How to Navigate the Minefield of Working with Family Members Years ago, after earning my master’s degree in clinical psychology, I went to work in my father’s foundry business as the company’s director of sales. At the time – and as is likely the case today as well –...

read more

Wash With Wally

Wash with Wally: How to Starch Tuxedo Shirts

Wash with Wally: How to Starch Tuxedo Shirts

I’ve recently been offered a tuxedo rental account, which would require me to wash and starch about 400 shirts each week. How do I starch these shirts in my washers? During which cycle would I need to insert the starch? To starch the shirts in your laundromat’s...

read more

Viewpoint

What Can the CLA Do for You?

What Can the CLA Do for You?

“What can Brown do for you?” That was the popular slogan for UPS from 2002 to 2010. Simple in structure yet far-reaching in scope, the slogan engaged UPS’ multi-platform customer universe to think about its relationship with the company and how it might be expanded....

read more

Digital Marketing

Spinning Success

Spinning Success

Four Marketing Strategies to Implement in 2024 Toward the end of last summer, helping my nephews gear up for the coming school year taught me something interesting about making smart choices. In years past, we typically grabbed the flashiest, most popular items – you...

read more

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.