Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Laugh if you want to...

(As a side note, as I special treat for my mother, in honor of Mother's Day, I'll try to post every day this week.)

As as I was saying... laugh if you want to, but I have a new business idea I'm toying with. I have no idea if I'll ever pursue it, but sometimes I just get these crazy ideas that keep my mind occupied for a time.

Now, this idea didn't just come out of the complete blue. Several months ago our dryer went belly up. First the timer broke, and then the heat when asta la bye bye. Dan decided to put it on the curb. So that means... I have to go to the laundromat to do some of my laundry. I still have my washer and I like to wash the towels, sheets, and blankets and let them line dry.

So, my younger daughter and I are sitting in the laundromat closest to our house - less than a 1/4 of a mile - (Bear in mind there are three of them in very small radius) and I'm looking around this crappy, hot & humid laundromat. There's one nasty bathroom. The vending machines are way overpriced. The quarter machine doesn't always work. Dryer sheets are all over the floor. There are maybe *five* of the rolling laundry baskets. There are four benches. And the place is almost always packed. There are 35-40 washers, and 40 or so dryers.

So I'm looking around, and I'm thinking to myself, how can you make a laundromat - or as they say here in my neck of the woods: washateria - better?

My ideas:
ceiling fans to circulate the humid air
a larger dryer-to-washer ratio for those who bring already washed laundry
more benches
TVs
more than one bathroom, maybe even mens, womens, and family
an on-site attendant
indoor playground
video games
exercise equipment
bowling alley-type grill, although less expensive

Okay, I realize some of those things may seem strange or comical, but hey ~

So a couple of weeks ago, we had an extraordinary amount of laundry to do (my oldest hadn't done laundry in months probably, and yes, she has that many clothes, but she recycles, too) and our regular washateria was too crowded. So we go check out the next closest one. It's smaller than the other, and full. Next...

We pull into the parking lot, which wasn't too full, and drag in our dirty laundry.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear?

A miniature sleigh-- no wait ~

Sixty dryers!
Two TVs!
A men's and women's bathroom!
Ceiling fans!
Video games!
Free popcorn and/or coffee!
On-site attendants! (Who were cleaning the machines.)
At least 15 rolling laundry carts!

Woo hoo! I wasn't that crazy, it seems. So go ahead, laugh. I may open a laundromat someday. And I'm going to call it:

JEN'S WASH*O*RAMA

Like it??? (Hee hee)

And I had another epiphany one day as I was taking my daughter to work. There are several large vacant stores by where she works, so I'm passing by the old Petsmart, and I think: That'd be a great place for a laundromat. Okay. So I'm looking at it - and it has those sliding doors! What better for a laundromat where people are lugging baskets of clothes in and out than doors that automatically open and close!!!

Well, what do you think? Am I brilliant or what? :0)

1 comment:

mtnchild said...

Ooooh, lots of news for me this week!! I love it.....