Dave Menz of US-based Queen City Laundry is currently building a new facility that will be a 9,000-square-foot laundry centre which will include a children’s play area, granite counters, an ozone sanitization system, high-speed Wi-Fi, big-screen televisions, comfortable seating, 12-foot aisles, ample folding space, high-extract washers, excess parking, drop-off laundry and dry-cleaning services, and pickup and delivery. Kevin Adkins’ 8,200-square-foot Dirty Laundry laundromat boasts 84 washers, ranging from 20- to 90-pound capacities, complemented by 94 dryer pockets.
The trend toward larger laundromats across the country is following the pattern established years ago by major retailers, according to Ted Ristaino, chief operation officer for Yankee Equipment Systems. He explains that customers are attracted to large stores because of the perceived better selection of products and the ability to find what they need and in the self-service laundry segment, this translates into the availability of many more machines and more sizes of machines to process one’s laundry faster.
The trend toward larger laundries poses the question – where does it stop? What is the limit to how large a laundromat can get? According to laundry owner Adkins it is simple. If a significant number of your machines are not turning regularly, you’re too big. In short, at the end of the day, the customers will determine what, if anything, is ‘too big.’!