Birth of a laundromat

[Harv]

Howdy! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I've been quietly reading this forum for many months now, and I guess it's time to pop in and say hello. In short, I'm a semi-retired computer geek who (along with my wife) has decided to venture into the self-service laundry business.

To make a long story short -- last year we decided to try to improve our meager investments to where we could generate enough cash flow to live on. After several months of research, we decided to invest in small business. More research led us to the coin laundry industry. It seems like a good fit for us, since I need to stay busy (never was good at sitting around doing nothing), and if we put some real effort into it, our return on investment could be pretty decent (or at least better than the stock market is doing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif ).

I can go into more detail later, but we spent months searching for a laundromat to buy, and eventually made the decision to build our own. We found a space and recently signed the lease (a story in itself), so we're about 6 months away from opening our doors.

This has been quite an experience so far, and I thought it might be helpful, or at least amusing, to chronicle our journey through this venture, starting last year when we began looking for a mat. I'm sure somebody here would benefit from hearing what we've gone through, what we're going through now, and where we wind up at the end of the year. Our mistakes should be as much or more beneficial as our successes, so I promise to share both. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Just to be tidy, I guess I could post each "chapter" of our saga in a separate thread. Just a little at a time, so you won't get bored with me and boot me out of here. Oh -- and if we wind up bankrupt a year from now, we hope we'll have at least made some friends here so we'll have some shoulders to cry on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[rockefella]

Thanks for the kind thread. I very much look forward to reading it (them).

By the way, did you look at existing mats in the Los Angeles area? Why did you decide to build instead of buy existing mats?

I'm thinking of buying a mat in the NYC area, but I haven't gotten to the stage of talking to brokers just yet. Still researching. Thanks a bunch! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Harv]

<font color="blue"> By the way, did you look at existing mats in the Los Angeles area? </font color>

No, that's not an area that would work for us.

Just for the record: since our grand opening is six months out, we're a little leery about mentioning our exact location on the world wide web at this point. Although I have seen no evidence of anybody from our area on this board, we'd rather not tip off the competition just yet. Is that being too paranoid? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

<font color="blue"> Why did you decide to build instead of buy existing mats? </font color>

We looked at existing mats for nearly six months (I know -- that's not all that long), but we were not happy with what we were finding. Tell you what -- that's a good topic for another thread. Later today I'll post a fairly detailed run-down of the ones we looked at, and why we passed on them. Might stimulate some good discussion. It might also demonstrate just how foolish we (my wife and I) really are. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[petefritz]

why be paranoid? A few days after I bought my building ( which was a mat for years then other business) I spray painted it "L'mat coming soon" I never understood why anyone papers up the walls in secrecy, I find it crazy. Considering how long it takes to put a mat together, why not advertise before hand and build up curiosity, and also maybe keep someone else from considering a spot near by? You think you have a gold mine spot and want to keep it secret? You are not thinking to clearly. chances are every distrib and muti store owner has looked at your location and passed on it, for reasons of their own. post your town so we can all build a mat next to you!