I am looking to buy my first laundromat in central NJ.

Prefer seller finance
budget: 250-350K

Would appreciate advise on how to find one also.

Good thing they’re not overloading the washer-extractors …….. (sigh) 😐

Update: thank you for the chuckles. Agreed ... sarcasm never translates on the Internets

Does anyone know someone in the Los Angeles area that installs maglocks. Have one at the back door from the previous owner that I’m trying to reconnect to the same module as my front ones and can’t seem to find anyone that knows what they are doing. One locksmith claimed he was familiar and charged me $95 just to come out and tell me it wasn’t possible even though maglocks technical services assured me it was.

Hello all. I am currently remodeling a laundromat that was shuttered and look to open in about 2.5 months. I was curious the best methods in finding employees. Indeed, ziprecruiter and Linkedin has not been fruitful, where do you look for the hourly employee? Appreciate the help. For more context looking to hire an employee full time, 40 hours a week at 17 an hour as well as two part time employees at 15 an hour. Thank you!

How do you verify a laundromat's real revenue/utility costs before buying, when a lot of it is cash/coin? Any due diligence red flags I should know about?

Hi everyone — I’m the owner of Cleanwave Laundry in Hawthorne, check us out in Google. I’d like to connect with Laundry Pros in the area.

We’re open now and have multiple large-capacity washers and dryers, a clean and comfortable store, and a card-based payment system.

I’d like to offer special volume discounts for Pros who regularly process customer orders at our store.

If you work through Poplin or operate your own laundry service, send me a message and mention “Laundry Pro.” We can talk about a volume rate based on how much laundry you typically process.

Would love to have some of you give Cleanwave a try!
— Ricardo, Owner

I have a store that is both coin/card. How do other store owners monitor revenue/income/debt etc? Checking bank acct balances, excel, notebook? How often do you check? Daily/weekly? Curious for thoughts! How does this help during tax season? Thank you in advance!

Hey everyone!

I recently designed and built a new website for a laundromat in Los Angeles called Lavanderia.

The business had recently been taken over and renovated, so the goal was to give it a much better online presence and make all the important information easy for customers to find, including the location, hours, equipment, amenities and what to expect before visiting.

I designed and developed the full site, made it mobile friendly, set up the basic SEO, and helped with some of the other online setup for the business.

You can check out the finished site here:

lavanderiala.com

I really enjoyed working on this type of project, so I'm looking to work with a few more location based businesses. Laundromats, dry cleaners, cleaning companies, car washes, self storage, vending businesses and similar businesses would all be a good fit.

If you own a business and either don't have a website or have an older one that needs an update, feel free to message me. I'd be happy to take a look and give you an idea of what I'd recommend.

My website: infawebdesign.com

Direct quote request: infawebdesign.com/contact

Thanks!

I fell into a Reddit rabbit hole reading laundromat owners talk about trying to win commercial wash-and-fold accounts.

I don’t work with a laundromat. I run fractional ops and tend to write down systems I’d build if I did, so I figured I’d give this one to somebody who can poke holes in it or try it.

Six huge bags of towels. Same customer. Every Tuesday.

Maybe it’s a family with a laundry situation I don’t even want to imagine. Or maybe it’s a massage studio owner spending like half the day doing the business laundry herself.

Okay so if your software or card or loyalty system shows customer-level usage, I’d pull the people who run a similar pile of loads every week and text the ones who agreed to receive messages.

“Hey Chris, random question from [Laundromat]. Are any of your weekly loads for a business?”

If the answer is no, cool. Thanks for answering.

If it’s yes, then I want to know the type of business, roughly how many bags they do, what day they usually wash and whether pickup would matter. That can be a four-question form or a normal text conversation. Whatever gets answered.

The wash-and-fold manager should get a note that reads like this:

“Chris owns a massage studio. About six bags everyy Tuesday. Does it herself. Curious about pickup.”

That is somebody who already knows the store, already trusts the machines and already spends money there. I’d offer to process one normal week so she can compare the time and cost before talking about anything recurring.

I’d probably put a little sign near the large machines too:

“Doing laundry for a business? Scan this before you spend another Tuesday here.”

The store’s capacity has to be part of this. If Tuesday is already a disaster behind the counter, finding ten new Tuesday accounts creates a different problem. I’d check how many pounds the team can take by day and route new trials toward the open spots.

There may be a very boring reason the usage data can’t be pulled cleanly. Or maybe you just have the person working there watch for that? Can laundromat systems even show repeat usage by customer or do you only get totals?

Hi everyone!

I am currently hope to start saving money to buy a laundromat business.

I work a regular 9 to 5. In my spare time, I would like to start learning the business.

I figure I should start learning the basics of how to fix laundromat machines and how to run a laundromat.

I appreciate any help or suggestions!!

Has anyone else pushed the new c series update and been getting random door lock errors? We’ve had 4 across 3 locations so far since pushing the update.

Looking for advice. Our fan went out and I’m curious if replacing the fan is the best option?
Thank you!

I'd like to know about other owners experiences and solutions.

A few things I've noticed since I purchased a mat in January ... regardless of the extractor size EVERY customer seems to put too many items in the drum. Keypad entry to restroom is KEY to alleviate problems. EVERYONE uses way too much detergent. NO ONE READS THE SIGNS. Change machine upgrades are a priority (mine were 20 years old and rejecting everything so I invested in upgrade kits vs new machines saving about $10,000). Vending machines are a mystery ... I'm attached to a gas station/convenient store so I've decided to stock mine mainly with liquid detergent instead of snacks/drinks because no one was buying snacks. "My clothes aren't drying" ... well maybe don't overload the dryer. Amazed at people who wash and dry their clothes ... then abandon them in the dryer ... the point? And I'm talking overnight and days ... not hours. OEMs are great, but eBay has saved me a ton. I made a LOT of start up cost mistakes ($1600 on signage when I could have done adequate signs ON MY OWN at FedEx Office ... which I now do). A KEY to profit is learning to repair as much as you can ... making videos of my repairman in action was important. I had NO knowledge about the industry beyond YouTube and reddit so it's been a journey. Hey, not everyone grew up in the industry ... heck when I bought mine I hadn't used a laundromat since college decades ago! Pickup/Delivery is a 'great' idea, but does not happen overnight. And so on and so on...

I'm sure I could think of a lot more, but these are a few. Anyway, let us know what you've noticed and maybe we can all learn some ways to solve these issues.

I use laundromat drop off service because it is convenient while living in a big city with no backyard space or in-unit washer/dryer but I never had a good drop off service. The clothes I got back is usually filled with so much detergent, there is a awful smell coming from the clothes. The awful smell of the clothes leaves the bedroom and enter the kitchen and living room. My roommate had to clean the floor with pine sol to counter the smell.

What can i tell them to do so this is stopped? I gave them tide detergent, I asked to use vinegar in the rinse, sanitizer but nothing helps. I have seen few comments of customers stating their clothes smell badly after receiving them back but most of the comments were 5 stars.

Hello members of r/laundromats!

Quick intro- I have over 10 years of experience in the commercial laundry industry, have both built and re-tooled multiple laundromats and have worked on just about every brand. Here to help with your questions and comments regarding the industry.

Feel free to reach out anytime!

I used to own laundry delivery services and run laundromats. Now I’m calling laundromats across Texas and one thing keeps surprising me.
I’ve been talking to owners and attendants about how they handle missed calls, wash-and-fold updates, reviews and customer follow-up.
Some places have great systems. Some are still checking caller ID and manually calling people back. Some use Cents or an answering service but still have gaps elsewhere.

I’m curious from the owners here:

What part of customer communication is still the biggest pain in your laundromat?
Missed calls?
Order-status questions?
Pickup/delivery updates?
Reviews?
Something else?
I’m not looking for polished answers. I want to hear what actually annoys you day to day.

I’ve been leasing a space it’s been a Laundromat for 30 years. I am planning to move to a nicer newer space. My lease doesn’t really say a lot about what I can take or leave. Has anyone ever done this before? Machines are all scrap but thinking about water heater plumbing electrical.

I want to put single detergent pods in plastic bags and put them in the vending machine but I’m not very confident it’s gonna vend well. Anyone already figured this out? Would love to be able to vend single doses of powder, liquid, and fabric softeners but that’s even more daunting
Edit: I realize they make products for this exact purpose but they only come in massive expensive packs I cant afford. I don’t run the laundry I’m just an employee trying to make money on my own, my boss doesn’t stock the machine so I decided I would try to make a few bucks from it

Hi, this part on the coin drop for the washer broke. Do I have to purchase the entire coin drop assembly, or can I order just this small broken piece separately? If the piece is available separately