Secrets of Buying and Owning Laundromats

I would like to announce that I have finished writing a book about the coin laundry business called, "Secrets of Buying and Owning Laundromats." If you would like to find out more about it, view the table of contents, and even read the first chapter, you can go to Secrets of Buying and Owning Laundromats.


____________________
Click the link below if you would like to learn more about the Laundromat business and listen to a FREE call explaining how to get started in this exciting business!

Bed Bugs Can Spread in Apartment Laundry Rooms

According to a recent article in American Chronicle, the bed bug population in the US is on the rise and becoming a real problem. This could affect your coin laundry business by having customers bring the critters into the store and spreading the love. The article states, "Bed bugs have been sharing beds with humans for centuries. After World War II, DDT effectively annihilated the pest in America and Western countries, although bed bugs continued to flourish in less developed countries. The banning of DDT coupled with the growth of international travel has caused a resurgence of man´s age-old nemesis. Since the 1990s, reported bed bug infestations in the U.S. have increased 500%. Bed bugs are now common in all 50 states with infestations regularly reported in apartments, condominiums, hotels, college dormitories, office buildings, hospitals and private homes.

Adept hitchhikers, bed bugs travel into apartments on residents´ clothing, mattresses, furniture and inside packing boxes. Several recent infestations have been traced back to moving vans. Adult bed bugs are reddish brown and about the size of an apple seed, but nymphs and eggs are microscopic. Nuisance pests that feed on human blood, bed bugs do not transmit disease; but their bites can cause itchy, red welts, psychosomatic stress and severe allergic reactions. Feeding on sleeping humans at night, they hide in tiny crevices in or near beds between feedings. As an infestation grows, bed bugs spread to adjacent units through wall voids, electrical and plumbing conduits and air ducts. Bed bugs can easily be spread through an apartment complex via shared laundry facilities or maintenance workers."

So what happens if they are brought into your coin laundry business? We'll, there are a couple of things you can do to rid yourself of the infestation. First I would call a professional exterminator and have the store sprayed, or you can try to spray yourself with an off the shelf insecticide. If customer's clothes display signs of bed bugs, have them wash the clothes in hot water of 120 degrees or more with borax soap laundry detergent. Borax sells under the name 20 Mule Team, and can be found on the laundry aisle of many major supermarkets or Wal-Mart. Once washed, then dry the clothes for at least 35 minutes on high temp.



____________________
Click the link below if you would like to learn more about the coin laundry business and listen to a FREE call explaining how to get started in this exciting business!

Is The Economy Affecting Laundromats?

So According to the Wall Street Journal, coin laundries are suffering in this economy as well. The article is an interesting read, but it does not represent all Laundromats in this industry. And yes, while some stores have experienced a downturn, others are actually growing in business. Most of the downturn, has more to due with a change in the demographics of a neighborhood's base customers (mainly people moving back across the border), than it does with the fundamentals of the business itself. In areas of the country where there has not been a large change in core customers of coin laundries, business has been stable. This is generally the case in major metropolitan areas.

Here is the Wall Street Journal Article Even Laundries Tumble..."



____________________
Click the link below if you would like to learn more about the Laundromat business and listen to a FREE call explaining how to get started in this exciting business!