Venerable Drycleaning Business Evolves with the Launch of Modern, State-of-the-Art Laundromats
Jeff Engle likes to use analogies.
And the general manager for Sheldon Cleaners in Grand Rapids, Mich., has a great one for the two vended laundry operations his company runs in conjunction with their long-standing drycleaning business.
“In a way, laundromats are like fitness centers,” he explained. “There are smaller, cramped, bare-bones types of gyms, where you might even have a key to the place – you’re most likely going to be there alone, and the equipment is pretty basic and maybe even a little tired. Then, you have the higher-end fitness centers – with spacious facilities, a grand building, an almost country club atmosphere, ample state-of-the-art machines, personal trainers on site, and so on. I see The Laundry Room as that latter example… but for doing laundry.”
Sheldon Cleaners is a relative newcomer to the laundromat business.
Since 1949, Sheldon has been one of western Michigan’s premier drycleaning and laundry services. Founded nearly 75 years ago by George Cares, the first Sheldon drycleaning location was quickly followed by two others within a few short years.
Today, George’s sons, Paul and Louie, carry on their father’s legacy, while also reinventing the business along the way, as customer needs change and technology evolves.
The business now umbrellas a 32,000-square-foot flagship Sheldon Cleaners; a number of satellite locations situated in strip malls or on family-owned real estate; and the company’s two laundromats – a 6,500-square-foot store that opened in 2015, and its newest one, The Laundry Room, a 7,500-square-foot laundry that opened its doors last September. (What’s more, the company has already begun construction on a third laundromat in the Detroit area.)
Serving the Grand Rapids, Holland and Kalamazoo markets, revenue flows from various income streams – including drycleaning, self-service laundry, wash-dry-fold, commercial accounts, pick and delivery services, rental income, and food and coffee.
Coincidentally, the initial idea for getting into the laundromat business came from the founder’s wife, Hope, who needed to go to a laundromat to wash a large bedspread and found the experience less than desirable.
This led the Cares brothers to the conclusion that they could do better – and they immediately set out to develop a safe, comfortable, fully attended, state-of-the-art laundromat business.
“That’s the reason we launched the first store,” Engle said. “It wasn’t necessarily based on any type of business perspective. It was more the fact that their mom didn’t have a safe place to go to launder a bedspread.”
However – with the second store, The Laundry Room at Sheldon Cleaners, based in the Comstock Park community in northern Grand Rapids – the company had the benefit of reviewing the performance of its first laundromat during some very difficult times.
“We’re going to continue with our bread and butter, which is drycleaning,” Engle said. “However, during the pandemic, a lot of businesses – such as restaurants, retailers and, obviously, drycleaners – took it on the chin.
“But, at our first laundromat, you couldn’t tell by the numbers that anything unusual was going on. In my opinion, it’s basically a recession-proof business. We felt that the laundromat kept us going; it was our anchor.
“As a result, the more laundromats we can create, the more secure we can be – and the less vulnerable and the less dependent on what’s happening within the outside world. Plus, laundromats are a need. The public needs to be able to wash its clothes. Laundromats are essential and will stay open even during tough times.”
For its second laundromat, Sheldon acquired a former Pier 1 Imports, located on a high-traffic, major retail thoroughfare directly across from a Sam’s Club and boasting whopping 52 parking spaces.
“It’s a big retail draw,” Engle noted. “Although laundromat customers typically won’t drive 15 or 20 minutes to a store, the way we’re set up, people will pass two or three other laundries to come to us. We draw from a larger radius, because we’re at a destination for shopping, eating, and entertainment.
“Additional, the store is surrounded by apartment complexes and renters, and we’ve also found we get a nice boost in business from the local greenhouses and apple farms, which hire seasonal migrant workers.”
The Laundry Room was simultaneously easier and more difficult to build than Sheldon’s first vended laundry.
“We have a relationship with local architects, builders, and suppliers who have done many of our buildings in the past, so that made it much easier.”
Engle leaned on the expertise of architect Mark Tomasik of Innovative Design in Grand Rapids, as well as Michael “Stucky” Szczotka of Eagle Star Equipment, a commercial laundry and drycleaning equipment distributor, headquartered in Troy. Both had played integral roles in developing and building Sheldon’s first laundromat in 2015.
However, the timeframe for The Laundry Room proved problematic.
“We acquired the building on July 1, 2021,” Engle explained. “So, we were doing this right after the pandemic. Supply chains were an issue. We had trouble getting steel and getting the windows. The buildout was challenging. The project took 14 months, and we ended up opening around Labor Day of 2022.”
Despite the early delays, The Laundry Room hit the ground running, announcing its presence through a full-scale marketing blitz, leveraging digital marketing, social media, direct mail, and a popular television ad campaign.
“Of course, our location – right in front of Sam’s Club – is a billboard in itself,” Engle added.
And the way The Laundry Room is designed, the high-end finishes, the quality of the laundry equipment, and the store’s full-service offerings help to differentiate it within the marketplace.
“We lay out our laundromats in kind of unorthodox way, different from most traditional laundries,” Engle said. “We set up areas where customers don’t have to relocate very far; we have sections with washers and dryers. They’re like little work cubbies.
“Our store is not a sardine can. Some might say we’re not utilizing our space effectively, because it’s very spacious and there are a lot of angles built into the design layout. But they make it comfortable and convenient for our customers.”
Moreover, with 52 parking spaces, The Laundry Room – which is open from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Sunday – is not likely to suffer from the lack of parking availability that plagues many vended laundries, especially on busy weekends.
Plus, the fully attended store provides an array of full-service options – from wash-dry-fold to drycleaning to pickup and delivery.
In fact, Sheldon Cleaners is working to reduce its number of drop-off/pickup satellite locations, yet still retain the company’s main facilities with good volume, including the vended laundry locations. What’s more, Sheldon has surrounded its two laundromats with laundry routes to provide residential and commercial pickup-and-delivery service.
The wash-dry-fold segment has grown to become a major element of Sheldon’s operation – and the laundromats have enabled the company to draw from a larger geographical area and, in turn, support additional drycleaning business as well.
Rounding out The Laundry Room’s amenities are spacious seating areas and a wide variety of vending options, including coffee and other hot beverages.
“The main drawing card is the look of it,” Engle said. “It’s just a beautiful building – very spacious, with modern up-to-date finishes. It’s very clean. Our machines are top of the line. Customers are not stuck in a sardine can – they have the space to feel comfortable.
“The store’s appearance and layout create that ‘Wow’ factor. It’s so grand, with huge ceilings. It looks like the Taj Mahal of laundromats.”
