Additional income generating ideas

[RobertCary]

We have a coin operated laundry with a room near the front with 300 square feet that is presently unused. We just installed a new self service coffee machine, but are interested in finding out what other laundry owners have done to suppliment laundry income. We are looking at video games, and other food vending equipment, but are wide open to suggestions of creating additional revenue.

Thank you,

RobertCary

[neal]

what about adding more machines

[hotwash]

LETS SEE HOW ABOUT
ATM
DRY CLEANING DROP OFF
SOFT ICE CREAM
TANNING BEDS
POST OFFICE BOXES
COPY AND FAX SERVICE
INTERNET STATIONS
NAIL SALON ( RENT THE SPACE TO NAIL PERSON
BOOK SWAP AND FISH TANK
SNACK BAR
HMM I THINK THAT SHOULD HELP YOU

[RobertCary]

Thanks "hotwash" for suggestions.

Could you please clarify "BOOK SWAP AND FISH TANK" ? I can visualize the other suggestions, but am not sure how to create revenue with these two items.

Thanks.

Rob

[hotwash]

NOT FOR REVENUE BUT FOR CUSTOMERS I HAD A BOOK SWAP AND FISH TANK JUST THINKING OF IDEAS FOR THE SPACE, THE EASY ANSWER IS MORE MACHINES MAKE IT A BIG ROOM WITH ALL 75# WASHERS AND 75# DRYERS, I HAVE SEEN IT I SOME NEWER STORES SEEMS TO GO WELL I WILL BE ADDING IT FOR MY NEW STORE FOR SURE 8 OF EACH...BUILD IT THEY WILL COME

[petefritz]

soda vending snack vending Ms Pacman Galatica machines are the top pruducers I think

[ThePoetSuede]

How about a totally new idea?
I am not sure of your area but, you can make a small showcase stand with a counter and rent the space say 6' x 4' minimum to local people for a small fee. They can showcase their items whether its clothing, jewelry or whatever their into. You can put up a bulletin announcing a vendor schedule. This will promote a more appealing feel to the mat and will generate 100% income for you. No splitting the income with the snack vendor, etc.

I am in the process of opening my 1st mat and this is one of my ideas. It promotes income, creates an interest for my clients and helps the community. Any comments?

[SecretarytoBraveDave]

For the least amoount of money to invest a video game contract can prove to be very lucrative. Smaller vend items can do as well also, it will depend on your traffic. Contact you local video distributor and see what they suggest. By starting out small it will not cost you any upfront funds, but iit will bring you monthly revenue. You want to find the best return for that space possible. Good luck

[ThePoetSuede]

The video approach is always okay but with todays home excellent video systems I believe (depending on the market) that a video machine in a laundrymat has its limitations.

The selection of games will probably cater to the 10 yr old and under simple because in my market, Manhattan, you won't find a 13 year old in the laundrymat with his mother. He will be outside playing games and probably would rather be home playing the more sophisticated games.

Please comment on my idea......... a small enough area, rented for 3 hours at $10/hour. Since the majority of people in the mat are adults it would make sense to start to capitalize on that. While waiting for their clothes to wash & dry they could browse through the display stand and perhaps purchase the item of the week. The stand itself would cost nothing, not even electricity.

Again, I am pushing the envelope for a newer trend that makes washing clothes a more enjoyable experience, similar to the internet kiosks which are starting to emerge.

Comments appreciated.

[millenniumplus]

Looking at raw numbers "for us" video games rule and give the best bang for the buck. It's
really sad we overlooked it trying to beef up our business in other areas. We are in the
process of moving out the vendor company (2Q04) and pricing our own video games. It
has been our observation that during bad weather or simply just waiting for the wash/dry
to complete, people "do" video games. Little to no maintenance (versus vendingmachines)
or physical work. With the so called dollar numbers we get from the present video company
we anxiously look forward to getting 100% of the income versus 50%. We anticipate the 6
video machines will pay themselves off in 8 months max. Whatever you decide to do, good
luck.

[millenniumplus]

A business associate I know suggests shoe repair!?! Not that one would repair the shoes but
one would contract out the repairs (like sending out Dry Cleaning). Go with more machines,
doing your own video games and/or vending machines (not necessarily in that order).

[actionmedia]

Any one tryed jukebox? I understand Wurlizer is the best brand in the field. They are quite expensive but have low mintenance like videogames.
What about pay to use remote control for TV?You could charge turn on, change chanells, volume adjusment. I wander if it can be done with resonable costs. I belive it requiers some kind of card to be used.
If peuples spend there 30 min to 1 our. May be you can install an electronic panel or a bilboard or someting like this and charge local companies for a small advertising fee. You can run even on TV screen and the peuples who want to see something else they sholud pay.

[millenniumplus]

RobertCary - was unclear if you were attended or unattended so this idea would be based on attended.
Anyway, my mother reminded me of her idea for us to install lottery machines and all that comes with it
like scratch offs. Not sure if this is legal in your state. Not sure what if any the upfront cost would be to
have all that stuff besides a dedicated phone line. Thinks it would be something that would at least bring
in more people to just play lotto and maybe then decide to do their laundry there next time (says my Mom).
Again another thing on our list of things to maybe do once we understand more the pros and cons of
this idea like what if any percent of the winning ticket do ya get and stuff like that.

[petefritz]

These ideas are interesting, set up kiosk, shoe repair lotto scratch off ( that one in an attended store would be first on my list) If you run a laundromat than you are in the laundromat biz, so try to take in some extra cash without doing much, or changing your primary biz.
The most common are:
Soap vendor
soda vender
snack vender
pay phone
game machine
Not sure what else.
I have a car vac at one store, it does prettty good, I may put one at one I am buildng now. You need room in parking area for it.
All of the above require very little work and are high profit, assuming you own the machines.