Many people look at Laundromats or coin laundry’s as a recession proof business. Funny thing is nobody thought of them like that before 2008. There was just that place that poor people and college students go to wash their clothes because they can’t afford a washer at home.
I was introduced to the coin laundry industry by a friend of mine in our volunteer fire department many years ago. As he was a captain and also did service on appliances Captain Freon seemed like a good fit. His family had been in the coin laundry and appliance sales and service business his whole life. We would sit around and talk about various business ventures and at one point we actually took a tour of a couple of laundry in a neighboring town. I had other projects on the go at the time so another friend of his opened one in that town a couple of years later.
Fast forward a few years and I was leaving the corporate world, and that country, so I was looking at alternatives. Part of the fun of moving to the US is that once you are here it takes months to get a green card to be able to work but fortunately you can own a business before you even get here. During the time I was waiting to move I hunted down Captain Freon and started asking questions. I would ride with him to his coin laundries and ask all kinds of questions about income and finance and maintenance and setup ……. Finally, he told me until you actually own one I can’t really tell you much more.
I will be honest and tell you that you can read about them, stop by and use some, talk to distributors, accountants and lawyers, develop business plans and study demographics but there are still things that you don’t find out until you own one. But I hope to be able to provide some insight into many of these items as we move along.
I have been operating in the laundry business since 2010 and learning and studying since 2008. Currently, I own 3 stores. One was closed and required a complete renovation, one was running and needed some freshening up and the third was running and had good equipment but needed renovations and some additional equipment. One of my stores has attendants and a strong Drop Off service. Although not in my original business plan it was a good opportunity so I made some adjustments to the business plan and moved forward.
For more details on renovations and store, construction CLICK HERE and join the Members Area
If you have any comments please post them below.
Ken
