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Attended vs. Unattended (Part 2)

Operating partially attended store can be nice compromise: Enz

CHICAGO — There’s no magic formula when it comes to choosing a self-service laundry’s operational model—attended or unattended—but there are certain factors that can influence the call.

FACTORS OF INFLUENCE

For the laundry owner eager to take advantage of social media and some of the tools integrated into today’s advanced laundry equipment and payment systems, the attended model is probably best, says Mike Enz from distributor Laundry One; Enz was the guest on an American Coin-Op Podcast episode on the topic.

“If the owner is a person that’s really an aggressive marketer, really wants to get out there and just market the heck out of his or her location, you have to have an employee in there,” he says. “You have to have somebody to answer the questions, because this is not normal laundry that some people are used to. We’re taking it to that higher level of operation and customers are going to have questions.”

On the flip side, the owner setting up in a small town or treating the laundry business as a “plan B or C” may be better suited running a simpler, unattended location. Store size and machine numbers can influence a laundry’s operational choices, too, according to Enz.

“If we have a much larger equipment mix in the store and it’s several thousand square feet more than the standard store, we’ll find those locations do” lean toward the attended model, he says. “They have a higher investment involved and they want to make sure they can utilize and capture as much business as possible.”

Plus, security can become an issue, because the owner doesn’t want anyone vandalizing the premises or their equipment: “When you have a sizable investment, you can’t afford to have any reason for customers not to want to come into your store and patronize your location.”

BEYOND THE SELF-SERVICE VARIETY

Fulfilling the desire to offer laundry services beyond the self-service variety—with wash-dry-fold being a popular choice—will almost certainly require a store to be attended in some fashion.

Even if an investor decides to open as unattended but envisions their store being attended one day, taking some steps now will help them facilitate that transition later.

“I’ve actually had a handful of customers do that,” Enz says. “There’s not a better time to do it when you’re building a new store, redesigning a store or going into a retail space, to put that as part of your footprint.”

Running an attended store presents some management challenges that an unattended store doesn’t, and that starts with the employees.

“The challenge is going to be finding qualified individuals,” Enz says. “The key is finding reliable employees. You need more than just a body, you need someone who has a nice smile, somebody who’s willing to greet that customer and open that door.”

Operating a partially attended store can be a nice compromise between unattended and fully attended, Enz believes.

“The quick answer is yes, but you as the owner know when your store is typically going to be the busiest. I have several customers who opt to do that. Somebody will come in in the morning, they’ll be there for a couple of hours, then they’ll be gone pretty much all afternoon. Somebody will come in after suppertime and they’ll be there from, say, 6 o’clock to closing.”

And partially attended stores will typically have someone on duty for longer periods on weekends.

“In the Midwest, we build stores a little larger and you’re dealing with a rush of individuals on the weekend. You want to be there to make sure you’re capturing and answering the questions, because what happens too many times at an unattended location is a customer comes in and they have a bad experience on a weekend, well, they’ll go someplace else.

“It’s important that somebody is there to answer that question and take care of that customer and provide them the service they walked in the door for in the first place.”

In Tuesday’s conclusion: The pros and cons of both laundry business models

(Photo: © iStockphoto/Kevin Russ) 

Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].