Advice on opening a mat

[spincycle]

Hey everyone,

I want to get into the coin laundry business, it seems like like it would be perfect since they don't require much labor. I have found a location that I think might work, its an empty space centered around a half dozen apartments and a trailer park. There isn't a coin laundry in the area. Has anyone had a similiar situation? Any suggestions or advice on what I should be worried about or look into?

Thanks!

[spincycle]

I will be checking with the few apartments to see if their units come with washers/dryers, other than the laundry room. I wonder if renters actually use the apartment's laundry room, since they are usually small with limited number of machines. Any thoughts?

[blueridgemat]

don't let the low labor idea fool you. My wife and I built a new mat 2 years ago and we are in a rural area. We gross about $2,000 a week, but I have to spend 2-3 hours a day on slow days to maintain the mat, and my wife and I spend 4-5 hours a day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We are 1/2 mile from chicken processing plant so 80 percent of our customers are Hispanic. I would not dare to do an unattended or partially attended mat if in a big city. Do your homework on demographics in the area and write a business plan. Have your friends, bank, etc look at it and if you can convince them, do some more research and be ready to work hard for 5- to 7 years until you can pay off your equipment.
May the force be with you, young Luke Skywalker!

[spincycle]

I understand, I can put in the hours to maintain the mat. I have found a location, its got 3000 sft on a corner suite in a complex. I checked out the area, there is another mat in a couple blocks down in a complex which has a grocery store. The location I found doesn't have a grocery store, there are other small shops and a couple automotive shops. I have been wondering if this would be a downside, since it wouldn't be located in a grocery store.

[Burley]

Blueridge,
How rural is your location? I'd give my left nut to gross $2000 per week from where I am sitting. My mat is located in a small town (less than 5000) and we are doing no where near $2000 a week. I know that many of you reading these numbers may see this a small time numbers, but that is my reality.

Are you offering other services beside the basic self-service?

[mrclean]

I do slightly over $2k/week. The problem is - so do my expenses.

[blueridgemat]

Burley,

It's probably more like 1500 to 2000 gross a week. and like the other guy mentioned, my expenses are right there also. Only 5 more years and the equipment will be paid for! Maybe then too we can look at buying the building instead of renting. we offer WDF but we do most of it on Saturday and Sundays. Probably only $100 gross from WDF. I've went from 10 minutes on dryers down to 6 minutes due to the soaring gas costs. some complaints but not many. have 12 neptunes at 1.75 each and 10 huebsch 30 lb'ers at 3.00 each. we are price leader but also by far the newest and cleanest mat in the whole county. i have a blue expoxy floor over concrete and everyone says they have never seen a cleaner/prettier mat. also have games/vending and i am adding that $150 a week to the gross that i gave. we are county seat and closest mat's beside other one here in town are 12-15 miles away. i have chicken processing plant 1/2 mile away and 50 trailers next door so between those two we do pretty good i guess.

[Burley]

Thanks for the additional details Blue! Here's an interesting note: I also have an epoxy floor.....it is blue with grey and black flecks. I like it for the easy maintenance. Unfortunately, the installer did a sloppy job and hasn't followed through on correcting the problems. I'll be filing in small claims court today to get that resolved. I don't have WDF service and have decided to remain unattended. While WDF would increase my gross, I am not so sure about profits from that service.

One suggestion for you......you may want to look at adding one or two 50+ pound washers if you can afford it (cash wise and space wise). Not that I am an expert by any means but I draw a good portion of my business in with my larger machines. I would be in real bad shape without them. Best of luck to you.