Home: Message List - Laundromat Business

Re: Laundromat Business

snowball — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:11:06 GMT

Yes, the laundromat and dry cleaning both can make good money. The laundromat use less personnel
as compare to dry cleaning, also the customer is doing all the work whereby dry cleaning, you have to
deal with customer relationship onb a daily basis.

Key ingredients of sucess: Location, Right Size of Store, Equipment Mix and the most important is
how you treat your customers.

Re: Laundromat Business

PeoplePawn — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:13:24 GMT

+I'll probably be the first any only person to talk about this subject from an actual owner/operator perspective rather than the "speculative assumption" perspective. I actually created and developed a fresh multi-unit brand (++www.DarciesLaundry.com++) here in the Seattle area several years ago.+

www.DarciesLaundry.com was my second successful multi-unit retail start-up. I experienced a successful exit strategy after working very hard on building the brand and the retail stores for almost 5-years. The brand is still alive and profitable for its new owners today.

I will start by saying..."proceed with caution". The laundromat industry and the dry cleaning industry are 2 separate consumer industries. There is an opportunity for overlap, but fundamentally a laundromat and dry cleaners have differentiating customer profiles.

Risk factors with laundromats:
*Increasing utility costs
*Ongoing maintenance costs
*Internal theft
*Internal property damage
*High store build out costs
*To "staff" or not to "staff" - the self-service risk!
*High lease costs for prime locations expressed as % revenues

Risk factors with dry cleaners:
*Increasingly difficult to find landlords that allow dry cleaning on site - due to EPA guidelines
*High labor costs - most items require individual preparation and hand finishing
*Risk level for item damages is high

That said...like any other retail business the "secret sauce" to this industry like any other retail business is the store location as well as the market size. Laundromat customers need longer opening hours, more adjacent parking and are price sensitive. Dry cleaning customers are service sensitive. I built the www.DarciesLaundry.com brand incorporating dry-cleaning into the laundry business model. I also differentiated the brand from competitors by building big, bright and beautiful stores in high traffic retail corridors, with trained and uniformed staff on site every hour the stores were open, as well as offering all customers a no-coin automated branded pre-paid card system.....all equipment was brand new commercial size for customer convenience and we offered free TV, spotless bathrooms. a Kid's corner. free internet and monthly customer promotions.

If done right, you should receive a potential 30% net profit on revenues and a potential positive exit strategy. Just today, I received a telephone call from one of my old store managers that purchased a store from me...after three years he has paid off his store and was offered $500K for his business by a local broker that has a buyer.

So please....do your homework....you could easily buy yourself a job....if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. Avoid all of the advice from the experts that have no experience or success in this field. You can do well, if you make the right decisions.

Regards,

Patrick Kane (www.patrick@peoplepawn.com)

Re: Laundromat Business

Laundry101 — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:18:15 GMT

yes you can, I am form a small town and most people are renters and the laundromat is the only one in the area and makes about 3.000.00 a week right. will make more once I upgrade it.

Re: Laundromat Business

Laundry101 — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:15:53 GMT

Just looking to be financially free, and this laundromat is the only one in the area, and it`s already up and runnig.

Re: Laundromat Business

Laundry101 — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:13:17 GMT

Thanks, this laundromat is in a great location, it`s the only one in the vencinity and it up and running.

Re: Laundromat Business

Laundry101 — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:11:20 GMT

Thanks Score133 for all the good info. will be sure to use it.

Re: Laundromat Business

Sunkist — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:07:37 GMT

I have a client that makes a killing offering wash dry fold services. About 40% from drying cleaning and the rest from Wash/Dry/Fold.

Re: Laundromat Business

WEBillions — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 02:43:19 GMT

Yes, location is key. If there are already several laundry facilities in the area, you are going to have a hard time making money unless you have something your competitors don't, perhaps entertainment while waiting? Plus, try to find out how many people don't have their own washer and drier.

Re: Laundromat Business

DomainDiva — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:19:05 GMT

You can make a lot of money in the laundromat business as well as the dry cleaning business..... Remember location...location....location.

Re: Laundromat Business

Score133 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:31:31 GMT

You can make money in ANY business! You just have to have the right plan. Your first step has to be to create a comprehensive business plan. If you don't already have one, just go to http://www.score.org or http://www.sba.gov and download a business plan format. It's really a "roadmap" to get you from where you are to where you want to be. Without a plan, you'll be tempted to make decisions that may not be in the best interest of the business and will get your off focus. The business plan will enable you to evaluate your location, your demographics, your competiiton and most importantly, your financial situation. Can you survive until those quarters are coming in by the bagful? Yes, if you plan it properly. I'd also like to suggest you visit the SCORE Association website and look for a good (free) business counselor who has experience in the coin-operated laundromat business. Good luck!