new years day opening?

[DanD]

we are new in the business.Do most laundromats open on New Years day?

[ElmStreetLaundry]

You will work hard and there aren't many good excuses for being closed. You should take the opportunity, close, and rest up for the new year. Your customers will understand.
Regards,
- Mike

[millenniumplus]

We are closed 3 days a year (Thxgiving,X-Mas, New years). We also close several hours early the eve of these holiday's. WIth advance notice our customers
are understanding and applaud us for being open the other 362 days per year. A happy and healthy New Year to all.

[SecretarytoBraveDave]

Fully attended stores could go solo a few days a year for the benefit of the convenience of the customer on certain holidays. We used to go unattended on some holidays to stay open and give the employees a break, works all the way around.

[Laundry_Mike]

We close on New Years, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We stay open a half day on Christmas and New Years eves. I don't feel that I'm doing any customers a disservice by being open "only" 357 days a year. I run full service "upscale" stores, so there is no way possible that I could even consider the notion of opening up and running unattended for the self service customers. I keep my hours and days closed consistant year after year, and post signs well in advance of every holiday, so it is not a problem with my customers. It's also nice to have a couple days a year that you don't have to worry about getting a call from your store. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Duane]

There is no one correct answer to this question of being open or not on holidays.

If a store is designed to be attended with full service such as Mike's store, then shutting down for the holidays is understandable by his customers since he has employees and they should be home for the holidays with their families.

Running an attended store unattended may not be possible since the store was not designed to be unattended and therefore the security measures may not be in place to be left open and empty. Customers may take this either way: Wow, it is great they are open - or Darn, where are the employees!

An unattended store that is open 24/7 (like mine) is designed as such so being open on holidays is actually easier than shutting down. I am open all the time and my customers know this and business was pretty good on X-mas and New Years. I even had some new customers come in for the first time and left me a note on my bulletin board saying they love my store and will be back. A new customer from a closed competitor's store?

My point is that each store is different, but you must be consistent with your decisions so your customers will get to know your schedule. If you decide to close for a holiday post signs in your store (especially your front door and about 10 days before the holiday) and let your customers know your schedule. This will give them time to get their laundry done before the holidays rather than showing up with a car full of laundry to find out you are closed - perhaps this is what happened to my new customer.

Duane.

www.LMARIES.com (http://www.LMARIES.com)