How to Buy a Laundromat Business for Beginners
Buying Laundromats — What You Need to Know
Who should buy a laundromat business? The answer is simply – most people. Laundromats are a great first time business that don’t require too much in the way of start up capital (relative to other businesses), and don’t require the owner to be married to the business like when you start a restaurant business. Even more, laundromats are fairly recession proof and can thrive in low income areas. Laundromats have a large target audience: everyone who washes their clothes.
If you are considering buying a laundromat you need to read this important guide for some important tips about buying a coin laundry.
The first thing you should consider: how do you intend to get customers to into your business? You are going to have to find some way to draw them. This can be done in several ways. The most obvious way to get people into your laundromat is ensure your business is in a convenient location – more so than the competition. You also want to have better equipment and a nicer atmosphere than your competition. A clean store, too, is important. Little amenities like snack machines and arcades, besides making you extra money, provide additional incentive for customers to come through your businesses doors.
For most people, time is the single most important factor. It’s true that most people just don’t have enough time. Hence, the biggest attraction to coming to your business with be the larger capacity laundry machines that can wash and dry your customer’s clothes faster than does the competition’s. Now, this is a larger initial investment, but the benefits are worth it. Not only will you be able to serve more customers in the same amount of time, but you will also provide incentive for them to come.
As mentioned, location is key. Location is always an important factor in starting a new business, but with laundromats, your success will rest on the location.
In old days, convenient stores were considered convenient. These days, this is not true anymore. People are willing to drive somewhere – IF the atmosphere is good. So you need to make sure that your coin laundromat’s atmosphere is appealing. So while location is key, so is the atmosphere.
It’s quite important that you spend a lot of time doing research on your laundromat’s location. You need to find out what your target customers are. A successful laundromat is usually in an area with lots of tenants or a college or university. An area that is too wealthy won’t have need of a laundromat. An area that’s too poor won’t either. If there are lots of apartments in the area, scope them out and see if they are run down. If apartments are in tip top shape, they may have their own laundromat services.
Having a successful laundromat also means putting your business in a safe location. Customers will not come to your laundromat if there is the potential for violence or shady people hang about the premises. Having the laundromat in a safe location will attract families to use your service.
They type of services your laundromat offer will also vary, depending on the income level of the area. Higher income areas will often utilize full services such as wash, dry, and fold. You might also think about adding a dry cleaning service to complement the laundromat business as well. Dry cleaning services tend to do will in well off areas.
Another consideration you need to think about when buying a laundromat business is the actual equipment you will have installed. We touched on this briefly, but we should explore it more. INVEST IN THE BEST EWUIPMENT YOU CAN AFFORD. While you can opt to save a buck and buy cheaper equipment, you are sabotaging your business. Customers will greatly appreciate having the best equipment. The best equipment will give clothes a better clean and clean/dry them faster. This will give customers a reason to return to your business. You will also make more money because of the increased amount of customers that will frequent your business.
You should consider front load wash and dry machines – no top load machines. High quality front load laundromat machines will save you upwards of 50% on your electrical and utility costs compared to the top load machines. You pay more upfront, but you save way more in the long run.
So go out and buy that laundromat business. I’ve been very successful with my own laundromat franchisees. In fact, for first time buyers, you should consider buying a laundromat franchise instead of opening your own – it’s easier. Once you get experience under your belt, you can then open your own from scratch.