MILES CITY, Mont. — Craving personal service and a 60-minute wash and dry, families, singles, professionals and pets frequent the Express Laundry Center – a high-speed, 2,400-square-foot coin laundry in Miles City, Mont. Complete with Sage’s Dog Wash, the one-stop laundry not only delivers a quick wash and Fido-cleaning, it offers an array of amenities and time-saving drop-off services, including wash/dry/fold, load and leave, and dry cleaning.
Owners Shane and Rebecca McKinney relish their laundry just as much as customers relish its cleanliness, convenience and personal service. The couple purchased and renovated a Subway store anchored by the popular fast-food restaurant McDonald’s. “We bought the building and converted it to an Express Laundry Center,” says Shane. “We felt like it was a fabulous location across from McDonald’s. We love this business and can’t wait to get to the laundry every morning. Our customers say it is hands down the nicest laundry they’ve ever been in.”
Laundry clients are privy to comfy leather recliners, soap and snack vending machines, video games, free Wi-Fi, flat-screen televisions, high-speed laundry equipment, and the adjoining Sage’s Dog Wash. Open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, the Express Laundry Center is attended 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.
HIGH-SPEED BENEFITS
The McKinneys worked closely with Tom Millman when designing their store layout and equipment mix. Millman owns and operates Washtime Industries, a laundry equipment distributorship based in Greeley, Colo.
After careful research, the couple selected Continental Girbau high-speed, freestanding washers and complementary Continental drying tumblers for the store. The Express Laundry Center harnesses high-speed ExpressWash™ Washers engineered to significantly reduce utility usage and deliver a 60-minute wash/dry. Because the washers are freestanding, they installed easily without bolts or concrete foundations.
ExpressWash™ machines produce extract speeds up to 354 G-force. Because high-speed washers remove more water per load than hard-mount washers, laundry loads dry 40-50% faster, according to Continental. This shortens wash/dry time for customers—getting them in and out of the laundry sooner—and reduces electricity and natural gas consumption.
Additionally, the Express Laundry Center also saves water. There are no top-load washers in the store, and as a result, the laundry saves significantly on water and water heating costs, according to Millman. A typical top-load washer consumes 30-40 gallons of water per load, he says. By comparison, the Express Laundry Center’s 20-pound-capacity ExpressWash™ Washers are front-load machines using just 13.4 gallons of water per load with good wash results.
Altogether, utility costs—water, sewer, gas and electrical—represent 8% of Express Laundry Center revenue, according to the McKinneys.
Because the McKinneys selected freestanding ExpressWash™ machines, they successfully differentiated their store with a 60-minute wash/dry promise. On average, a customer can wash a load of laundry in 19 minutes and dry it in 24 minutes, says Shane.
“Customers are in and out faster,” he maintains. “Typically, in less than 50 minutes, laundry is washed and dried.”
Check back Tuesday for the conclusion!
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].