EVANSTON, Ill. — In the ever-evolving world of laundry services, businesses are redefining the experience by pairing it with complementary offerings like café-style comforts and gourmet coffee. The approach not only elevates the ordinary chore of laundry but also creates inviting spaces for customers to relax, connect, or work while waiting for their cycles to finish.
Businesses like Illinois’ Laundry Cafe, South Carolina’s Green Laundry Lounge and California’s Laundry Bar strive to weave together the warmth of a coffeehouse or café with the efficiency of a modern laundry facility. Their concepts are setting new standards for customer experience, proving that the right blend of convenience and community can transform the mundane into the enjoyable.
LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING A COMFORTABLE SPACE
Once the Laundry Cafe being built here in Evanston, just north of Chicago, opens for business, you can expect a welcoming atmosphere, comfortable seating and the aroma of coffee.
Cousins Tosha Wilson and Jacqui White are police officers looking ahead to see how they can continue to serve their local community after turning in their badges.
“This is going to be our retirement gig,” says White, “giving people a nice place to do their laundry, something they absolutely have to do, but also different from your typical laundromat where you can kick back and have a good cup of coffee and some light bites.”
While the two initially were focused only on creating their business, they became involved in The Aux, a commercial hub dedicated to healing, wellness and racial equality.
“For the last four years, our hats kind of got switched to co-development for 10 other businesses,” says Wilson. “The place we’re inside is now an ecosystem of businesses and the Laundry Cafe is one of the major tenants inside that building.”
When completed, the Laundry Cafe will occupy roughly 3,000 square feet of the 16,500-square-foot structure. The co-owners are shooting for a late March opening.
The self-service laundry will offer 24 washers, ranging in capacity from 30 to 140 pounds, and 23 dryers. Nearby, 800 square feet is set aside for the wash-dry-fold operation with drop-off and pickup-and-delivery service.
The café area, which will occupy about 30% of the Laundry Cafe space along one end, is just a single aspect of the larger laundry business.
“We see it as one,” Wilson says. “It’s a laundromat, where you can drop it off or you can come in and do it yourself, but you can also be in a comfortable space where you can have good coffee, good tea.”
White and Wilson will be putting in their fair share of sweat equity at the laundry but are thinking about hiring and cross-training two laundry attendants and two cafe baristas for starters.
“We think that’s more efficient when it comes to saving money, making sure people can have longer hours, not paying 10 people to do two different jobs, because technically it is one business. But we do not want to make a major mistake of doing that and then wash and fold is kind of failing because someone had to get back to coffee.”
The pair envision using the café space for special programs and entertainment as a draw beyond the laundry.
“I see people coming in just for coffee,” White predicts.
For earlier parts of this article, click here: Part 1 — Part 2
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].
