So do you think the coin laundering business is for you? Easy money that you collect once a week? Does the place work itself? Consider these factors when looking at the coin laundering business

1. Change machines
Good coin-operated laundromats work with change machines. If a customer can’t get change, they go elsewhere. How many change machines does the store have? A standard change brand change machine can hold around $3000. You can easily check the specifications on their website. Changed machines means the owner is running a tight boat. Two change machines mean the place is hopping. No change machine means people have to ask the grumpy guy behind the counter or the place isn’t really a laundromat.

2. Store Show
Look at the store sign. It turns on? Missing half? Does it clearly tell people what a coin-operated laundry is or does it just say “Bob’s”? The store sign will tell you all you need to know about how well the store has been run. A big store has a big sign.

3. Top loading machinery
With today’s utility costs, it’s very hard to make money with top-loading machines. If the store you’re looking at has them and the place is busy, this is the type of store you DO want to buy cheap and replace the top-loading machines with 3x – 5x front-loaders. You will have to invest in new machines but it will increase your prices and profits. If the store has top loaders and it’s empty, drive by to see which competitor just showed up that has all new front loaders. Stay away from this store

4. Team brand
The Maytag man you see sleeping in the TV commercials should check out some Maytag-equipped coin laundromats. While Maytag is a good household name, they don’t make all of their commercial laundry equipment, and quality has taken a hit. The leading brand in the industry is Wascomat. Who is Wascomat? Have you ever heard of Electrolux? A Wascomat store is a very good sign. Look for a Wascomat next to any other brand and you will most likely want to use the Wascomat. Try it!

5. Utility bills
There is a commonly understood method that your utility bills make up 14% of your sales. Be careful with this, as older equipment will account for more than 20% of your sales. I don’t recommend looking at utility bills unless you are calculating usage. This means that you are doing a calculation based on the total amount of water used divided by load of laundry divided by the sales price to try to get approximate laundry revenue. If you can do this calculation, this is good.

6. Conversion
There can be a big difference in how you would run a store compared to how the current owner runs the store. Are you kind and continuous? Do you care about your customers? Will you fix the store sign and make sure you always have change and washers available? The store owner affects conversion more than any other factor, but it is not the only factor. Bigger new teams help too, but at the end of the day your personality will drive the business forward. It should say that you have a “consistent” personality. Once you lose interest, sell the business before you kill it.

7. Neighborhood
Get the demographic data of the city’s population. You want a good mix of ethnic backgrounds and the more kids (more laundry), the better. A neighborhood full of retirees is bad news. A neighborhood with too high a median household income is not good. Low rise 8 plex to 24 plex buildings are better than giant high rise buildings because they usually have poor laundry rooms. Also, rental properties in the neighborhood trump condominiums for coin laundromats.

8. Parking
Make sure there is enough parking or a lot of people within walking distance. Imagine how far you would carry your clothes if you had to walk to a laundromat. If possible, you really want to have plenty of parking space. If you don’t have parking in front of the store, you probably don’t have a laundry business.

Also as a side note, if the road directly in front of the store has an island separating traffic, you will have to stand outside and watch the flow of traffic into the store. Traffic islands are generally small business killers.

9. Wash and fold
I would suggest to anyone looking into the laundry business to ask what is the benefit of having a laundry counter.

I have seen many real estate agents who claim that you can increase your business by adding a wash and fold counter. You can grow your business, but not in the way you think. Getting a new source of income from the laundromat means committing to the effort of building that business and paying someone to be there for longer hours. It is rare (but they do exist) for a laundromat to exceed its personnel cost in washing and folding sales. If you are buying as an investment consider this. If you already have a full-time person washing and folding and you plan to eliminate them, count on a 10% to 40% drop in your self-service traffic. The real prize in having an assistant comes from the convenience you bring to the person doing your self-service laundry.

10. Consistency
Well-run laundromats are consistent throughout. I mean EVERYTHING! This includes (but is not limited to) your store hours, staff, cleaning method, cleaning schedule, washing and folding method, machine brands, available change, soap, supplies, etc.

The less consistent you are, the less consistent your customers will be.

I’ve run 3 laundromats over 5 years and unfortunately for me, it’s time to go out of business. I have learned a lot and met many wonderful new people. I sold 2 of the 3 stores I owned and the 2 new owners took my advice to heart and have put their new investments to good use. I have one store left for sale and I am torn to see her go.