Second-Story Laundry Second to None

By | Dec 30, 2009

Super Clean Lavanderia delivers more to customers than a 60-minute wash and dry. Super Clean – a super center for families – features high-speed laundry equipment, a café/convenience store, 10 Internet computer stations, a 120-square-foot children’s play area, six flat-screen televisions and multiple attendants giving white-glove customer care. The 7,000-square-foot laundry, which occupies the second story of a rental property in Langley Park, Md., opened for business in January of 2009.

Retail developer and owner Danny Lee, who immigrated to the area from South Korea years ago, said Super Clean’s location is ideal for business, thanks to a dense Hispanic population of renters. Already, store revenue is significantly higher than expected.

A Family-Oriented Super Laundry

Unique from its competition, Super Clean caters to its Hispanic clientele with bilingual signage and multiple services and products, as well as attendants offering unmatched service.

“We have five attendants at the laundry at all times who help customers immediately,” Lee said.

Upon entering the store’s parking area, attendants greet customers, unload their laundry and place it inside the store next to an appropriately sized washer-extractor.

“When our customers leave,” Lee added, “attendants take their laundry to their cars for them.”

At Super Clean, mothers feel safe and children are entertained.

“Moms with kids want to come here,” Lee explained. “Their kids have a place to play while moms focus on laundry and visiting with friends.”

Around the clock, music fills the store. “Our customers can sit outside on the upper balcony and enjoy a coffee from our cafe,” he noted. “Many laundries are dangerous with cars going by in front of the stores. Ours is safe and moms with kids want to come here.”

From the back of the store, customers enjoy ample parking; and from the front, a second-story balcony and 106 linear feet of windows overlook busy University Blvd.

“Our visibility is great,” Lee said. “When designing the laundry, we spent a lot of time trying to save all of the windows.”

Careful Development of Second-Story Laundry

But, because Super Clean occupies a second story, it required careful planning and freestanding laundry equipment.

“At first, I wanted to put a sports bar in the space,” Lee recalled. “But the building owner didn’t want to hassle with a bar. He suggested a laundry, but I didn’t think it would work on a second floor with an existing business downstairs. I thought the equipment would create too much vibration.”

Nonetheless, Lee checked out the idea with Fowler Equipment, a laundry equipment distributor in Baltimore. David Giguere, a laundry industry veteran, suggested Lee install freestanding, soft-mount washer-extractors in the space because they don’t mandate thick concrete foundations or bolts. Rather, they can be installed in unconventional locations, and literally slide into place.

Freestanding Washers Key to Installation and Efficiency

Because Lee chose the freestanding washers, he gained a way to differentiate his store from the competition with a quick wash and dry; lowered utility costs; and was able to develop a second-floor laundry, according to Giguere.

“I relied on David 100 percent and hired a structural engineer to be sure I could put the machines in the space,” Lee said.

Ultimately, Super Clean was outfitted with 74 washers: 18 20-pound-capacity washers, 30 30-pound-capacity washers and 28 40-pound-capacity washers. The store also features 20 45-pound and 10 30-pound-capacity dual-pocket stack dryers.

“The difference between Super Clean and our competition is that we attract families because we offer family-oriented services and large machines,” Lee explained. “Our most popular washers are the 40-pounders because customers are washing large loads of laundry. They are looking for immediate service and can wash in 28 minutes and dry in 24 minutes. Our customers are generally done with laundry in 52 minutes and can fold and go.”

Because customers get in and out of Super Clean so quickly, machines are open sooner for another paying customer. That’s a good thing, according to Lee, because the store is very busy.

“Some customers are asking us to provide wash-dry-fold service,” Lee said. “But we don’t have open machines or idle attendants to be able to offer the service right now.

“I have four to five attendants working on each shift without doing any wash-dry-fold,” he added. “And we may not do any wash-dry-fold in the future if we don’t have to. Although offering a wash-dry-fold service would probably be good money, I have a different view on that than most other laundry owners. I'd rather provide the very best customer service to my in-house customers; this means that if any problem occurs, it will get resolved immediately.

“There are a lot of things I’m doing at Super Clean that no one has ever done before with a laundromat. The bottom line is that I want my customers to be completely satisfied while they’re doing their laundry here.”

Contributing to the Bottom Line

With multiple offerings under one roof, Lee enjoys several streams of revenue. In turn, his customers appreciate the ability to use the store’s card system to purchase anything from video games and Internet access to a wash or a dry, as well as laundry soap and snacks. Everything in Super Clean is operated via the card system. All offerings contribute to Super Clean revenue and profits.

Specifically, the self-service laundry generates 80 percent of the business’ total revenue. Meanwhile, the café contributes 15 percent and the vending machines and Internet stations bring in 5 percent. By themselves, the store’s five video machines bolster Super Clean’s bottom line by $800 per month, according to Lee.

The laundry owner is thankful for his store’s early success and believes in giving back to his customers regularly. Each month, he runs promotions to reward and thank them.

“We offer a free dry on Mondays and Fridays,” he explained. “We gave away a 42-inch, flat-screen TV last month in a raffle, and this Saturday, we’re giving away 25 cooling fans. We try to give away $700 to $1,000 items each month. I’ve got to give back to my customers. All my businesses are run that way.”

At this pace, with anticipated revenue already exceeded by 25 percent, Lee expects a full return on his Super Clean investment in four years – three years earlier than planned.

“I’m a retail developer and own a discount store and a flower shop,” said Lee, who is working on the development of his second self-service laundry, located about 30 minutes away from Super Clean.

“I was attracted to the laundry business because it’s easier to manage with multiple stores.”