GREER, S.C. — 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 South Carolina’s Green Laundry Lounge, California’s Laundry Bar and Illinois’ Laundry Cafe 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.
REINVENTING THINGS
The signage on the side of the Green Laundry Lounge delivery vehicle reads, “Eat, Drink, Wash, Repeat,” so that should tell you right away that there’s more to the business than just laundry.
Jay Desai co-owns the business here in Greer, South Carolina. It covers nearly 4,000 square feet and offers a trinity of services: self-service laundry plus wash-dry-fold service with pickup and delivery; organic dry cleaning (also known as wet cleaning); and a small farm-to-table café.
Green Laundry Lounge began operating in April 2022, which means its third anniversary is coming up.
“When we opened for business, most were laundry customers; they came for the self-service laundry. But they realized they were going to be spending some time here, so they said let’s buy some coffee or food. Then gradually, that changed: ‘These people are serious about their coffee, their food options.’ So now we’re getting more and more customers just coming for coffee.
“So, we gained laundry customers through the café and we gained café customers through laundry and dry cleaning.”
Sustainability is at the heart of this operation. Even the folding tables and surrounding walls are made from reclaimed wood from local barns and churches, Desai points out.
And the laundry sells its own line of laundry detergent: “The laundry soap is made locally, without using any chemical or solvent, 100% biodegradable. We do not sell any known brand that has chemicals, such as Tide or Gain. You’re not going to see any soap other than what we make.”
ENERGY STAR®-rated Electrolux washers and dryers—20 machines each—populate the laundry, offering wash capacities of 18, 25, 45 and 80 pounds and drying capacities of 35, 50 and 83 pounds.
Store amenities include high-speed Wi-Fi, TV, an indoor play area with iPads, and an outdoor pocket park “where kids can play and families can sit down and have a coffee, other drinks and food.”
Those locally sourced goodies—including authentic Indian street food, bakery items, coffee, tea, bubble tea and specialty drinks—come from the café, which covers 600 square feet of the Lounge. There are four tables inside, including two long bar tables, and six tables with picnic benches outside. Seating capacity for the café is around 35.
“It is partly divided with glass and a wall but it is under one roof,” Desai says of the café. “It’s kind of like a home with an open layout concept, where there is a kitchen area, there is a dining area, there is a living room area. It’s all kind of separate but, in a way, in one large hall.”
In developing his business, Desai was focused on safety and providing a laundry that the women of the community would consider a safe option, especially at night. Still, he wanted to offer more.
“I was thinking, ‘I love coffee.’ My wife and I wanted to do a side business involving coffee. We also love Steve Jobs and what he has done with Apple, reinventing things. … What Apple did is made everything better, so we thought how can we reinvent the laundry industry and make things better and safer. And that is what we did.”
Desai considers the laundry/wetcleaning services and the café to be a “combined unit.” They share the same operating hours, as well as the same “last wash/last order” time.
“My two partners are managers. One is owner/manager for café and hybrid services and one is owner/manager for laundry and organic dry cleaning. Both of them work in sync with other employees and make this operation nice and smooth.”
Green Laundry Lounge is staffed with six workers (more during summers) who are cross-trained as baristas and laundry attendants. That’s the norm, that any new employee is trained to be able to assist customers doing laundry or wanting to purchase coffee or food from the café.
Desai markets the business as one but staggers the messaging between the laundry and café: “We use social media but most of the traffic we gain is from, like, Google and word of mouth. Yes, we are very much active on Instagram and Facebook.”
When asked what advice he would give someone looking to open a multi-service business such as his, it would be to stay patient while it takes hold.
“You have to give enough time—three to five years—and build goodwill … and a business model based on the people itself. If you do not have good or motivated people, then you need to find some.”
And offering a menu of tasty drinks and delectable dishes won’t hurt.
In Part 2 on Thursday: Dedicated wash-dry-fold near Studio City
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].