Laundromat Business - Anyone Considering?

[launderess]

At least here in NYC area laundromats, dry cleaners and even laundries have been going through hard times for awhile. Then came covid-19 which just piled on more misery.

https://citylimits.org/2021/04/20/w...-industry-worsened-by-pandemic-advocates-say/

https://www.thecity.nyc/coronavirus...ts-under-strain-as-city-s-wash-culture-shifts

https://smallbiztrends.com/2020/07/laundromat-franchise.html

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/artic...50319908/once-a-fixture-laundromats-disappear

High rents and other fixed costs along with competition from various app or online services are driving self-serve laundromats out of business. This coupled with increasingly multi-family housing is offering either on premises laundry equipment, or allowing residents to have washing machines and dryers in their units.

Local laundromat attendant tells that bulk of their business comes from wash and fold service. And this is from a place that is the only laundromat around for miles.

 

[circlew]

The washaterias around here seem to be relatively busy. Many people in this area have septic tanks, and don't want to flood them if they have a lot of laundry to do in a short period of time. Not a problem this year, but during dry spells, people with wells worry about them running low. Obviously things are different than in a big city, where there is city water and sewers.

 

[petek]

I can only think of one true self serve laundromat left here and the rest seemed to have disappeared. It's in the older part of the city where a lot of houses have been split into up/down apartments

 

[iej]

Other than the self service machines you find on some garage (gas station) forecourts and carparks, they're as rare as hens teeth here these days.

There are a few places that take in "service washes" but they often take several days to come back again. Mostly it's aimed at bulky bed linen etc and even that's not very common anymore.

Dry Cleaners are also becoming much less commonplace. There was a time they were a familar sight (and usually smell) in shopping malls, but they're becoming much less common. I think people just don't wear suits as much anymore.

I mean I remember as a kid in the 1990s, it wasn't that unusual to have dry cleaning items coming back almost weekly. Picking it up was a feature of the weekly "big shopping". I would say these says I am unlikely to even get 2 items dry cleaned a year. I don't own anything I can't just wash on a delicates / Wool or handwash cycle.

In the 80s/90s they were still very much a staple of most shopping centres (malls) and main street.

Those that are still around are usually no longer done on premises. I think there must have been a change in environmental legislation.

 

[launderess]

Dry Cleaners on this side of pond were already on shaky ground thanks to changing habits. More casual office and so forth wear meant less need for dry cleaning.

Covid came along and is piling on more misery. In our area alone about four or more dry cleaners closed since March 2020.

There are pages upon pages of hits for Google search "dry cleaners closing"

https://www.latimes.com/california/...igrants-dry-cleaners-struggle-in-the-pandemic

https://www.ourmidland.com/opinion/...ment-Care-owner-bids-farewell-to-16402225.php

Once a staple in areas all over USA, "Chinese" hand laundries are closing at a rapid pace as well. Their numbers had been declining for years, and we just lost one the last NYC.

https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/one-of-new-york-city-last-chinese-hand-laundries-closes/

Historic launder on brink of closing, as dry cleaners' business nationwide is drying up

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded a 47.5% unemployment rate for the “Industries in the Personal and Laundry Services” in April 2020.

www.fox5atlanta.com

 

[iej]

Yeah, I would imagine work-from-home had a huge impact but I think it’s been a slow drift too.
I’ve never worked in an environment where I had to be “suited and booted” - in fact, one of the fears is wearing a suit might make you look like a bank manager lol
I think there’s definitely been a big drift away from stuffy suits and ties though. The financial sector was probably the last hold out and even they’re beginning to chill out a bit.

The environmental impact of very frequent use of dry cleaning cannot have been good though. I know the modern solvents are a lot less ecological unsound, but when you think back at how all sorts of quite nasty chemicals were being used extensively and really just so they people could look formal.
You’d wonder what it was all about.

I always disliked the odour of dry cleaned clothes though. [this post was last edited: 9/12/2021-20:55]

 

[neptunebob]

It was an environmental disaster in the 50s.

There must have been a lot of dry cleaning back then, with everybody being so well dressed. Plus the machines back then probably didn't contain the fumes very well because who cared about the environment back then?

 

[davey7]

It wouldn't surprise me if they gradually disappeared. Chicago, for example, requires laundry facilities in rental buildings. Most rehabs and new construction has in-unit laundry. They are mostly in lower income neighborhoods and Latino areas, though you see a smattering here and there in the burbs as well. I do think people want places where large or bulk can be done, but less than previously.

 

[launderess]

Dry cleaning isn't just about formal wear

Until the process came along entire groups of clothing, household furnishings and other items simply couldn't be cleaned.

Certain silks, linens, cottons, woolens, etc.. and or things made with dyes that ran couldn't be wet cleaned. Contact with water meant dye loss, color change, shape change (shrinkage), loss of certain effects (crepe), and so on.

Trousers, dresses, gowns, jackets, coats, drapery, rugs, entire range of things simply couldn't be cleaned properly. Best one could do was apply or immerse things in some sort of absorbent like fuller's earth, clay, bran, to absorb oils, then brush off.

Now if by "formal" one means everyday business suits, dresses, slacks, etc.. Then yes, the ever increasing casual nature of both work and social life has meant less of that in wardrobes.

Twenty or thirty years ago no one would dare show up at office, meetings, certain social events in jeans and trainers. Now you see that even at funerals or other once dress up occasions.

 

[launderess]

While laundromats may be dying as a business, laundry services (especially app based) are taking off.

https://www.arlnow.com/2017/05/15/laundry-and-dry-cleaning-app-cleanly-expands-into-arlington/

Problem Cleanly and other app services have is they largely don't own their own plants. Work is farmed out to various wholesalers which makes quality control difficult. It also means a high loss rate since orders can be anywhere.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/cleanly-brooklyn-2

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanly.cleanly&hl=en_US&gl=US

'WHERE IS THE REST OF MY LAUNDRY??'

Cleanly, a snazzy laundry startup, promised NYC nurses and doctors "the gift of clean laundry." Instead, it created a COVID-19 underwear catastrophe.

www.vice.com

 

[sudsmaster]

I've had access to a washer on premises since about 1980.

I don't dislike laundromats, but having a machine on site is far more desirable.

I have never thought of owning or running a laundromat.

 

[launderess]

Hard to believe almost over 70 years ago now how revolutionary coin laundromats were to society.

 

[appnut]

Did you notice

Person #8 is a veteran and a student. His son is looking in the Bendix window watching the wash go round.

 

[circlew]

I went past two washaterias (same owner - one in Goshen, other in Blanchester) tonight about 7 PM, and business was booming. The Goshen location is near a mobile home park, and both are near homes that have well water and septic tanks. They seem to do well in rural areas.

 

[launderess]

In general laundromats do best where they have potential for captive market. That is large percentage of households who for various reasons do not have access to at least washing machines.

That game is changing in many areas for many reasons. First and foremost the expansion of front loading washing machines has done wonders for those living in multi-family housing.

Something long known in Europe, you can fit a five or six kilogram capacity front loader pretty much anywhere, and do a full load of washing. In comparison top loading portables (with central beaters) are rather limited. You can do blankets an a set of queen or king sized bed linens in 5kg front loader. Top loading portables OTOH may be a different story.

Other thing is since H-axis washers use less water than top loaders per cycle, worries about overwhelming plumbing or whatever in old buildings are less. That and also risk of flooding when twenty or more gallons of water for some reason is accidently goes astray.

In Europe homes with their own washers (front loaders) will go use laundromats under certain situations. Things like big/bulky items, and or having lots of wash they want done in short period of time.

SQ Laundromat In Italy

Now why can't we have nice things like this in my area? *LOL*

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[launderess]

Not that anyone asked....

But in case people wondered why all those startup app based laundries have such huge problems with losing things, answer is simple; they're cheaping out in trying to do huge volumes of commercial laundry using various laundromats or whatever spread out.

Since they arrived on scene commercial/steam laundries that did wholesale or direct customer (usually route) work had one big problem. Making sure customers got back items that they sent. This usually meant marking things with tapes, ink, or whatever marks. Today it is done with barcodes, but never the less it has to be done.

Until smaller h-axis washing machines (say 20 to thirty pounds) came along only thing available for commercial laundries were huge machines for 50, 60, 100 pounds or more capacity. This actually works out well for a laundry because one, two or three machines can process hundreds of pounds of laundry all day. Long as things are property sorted (whites, lights, darks, etc...) you're good to go.

Obviously using smaller laundromat sized machines means individual customer loads can be kept separate. But it is also time and labor consuming because workers have to track what order is in what machines, fold, repackage and return.

It is also time consuming because each washer takes about 30 minutes to complete a cycle. If you're only doing one customer's load per wash (and not using machine to full capacity at that), it just isn't very efficient.

A small laundromat doing service washes obviously has more control over things. Same place trying to process hundreds of pounds of wash per day is a recipe for trouble.



If you're not too picky about finished results, things can be upscaled to industrial level. However this requires a huge investment in equipment.

 

[sudsmaster]

When we lived in San Francisco (I was still a teen) it was nearly always in flats, and either we had access to a washer on-site, or we were a few doors down from a laundromat.

I do remember washing things in the sink or bathtub sometimes.

I *think* the relative cost of decent washers has come down a lot in the past five decades.

And of course now I have a surplus, LOL.

 

[jamiel]

My aunt for a long time used a laundromat--until she had a baby. She preferred having lots of changes of clothes, then taking them all in when she ran out of laundry, lining up 10 machines, and just being done with it.

 

[vacerator]

I know of a gal

in West Virginia who's husband just now let her get a laundry pair.
He was the first to use it L.O.L.
Could be because he recently began peritinial dialysis. She has a job at a local hospital, and he needs her care as much as possible now. She said he was always too cheap! Without health, you have quite a little.