TALLMADGE, Ohio — Jim Croyle and his wife, Theresa, recently opened a small, high-speed laundry next to their drycleaning plant here. The new vended laundry — designed for speed, efficiency and customer convenience — is growing 18% month-over-month and, after just six months, contributes 7% of total company revenue. At this rate, the Croyles expect a full return on investment in just five years.
Multi-Generational Business
Like many dry cleaners in the industry, White Swan Cleaners is vested in history. It’s a multi-generational company purchased by Croyle’s mother in 1979, then by Croyle in 2008. His grandmother, grandfather and great-grandfather all have ties to dry cleaning. Today, White Swan Cleaners includes a central drycleaning plant, two drop stores and one vended laundry. Services include dry cleaning, shirt cleaning, alterations, drop-off wash-dry-fold and residential pickup and delivery.
Downturn in Dry Cleaning Spurs Interest in Vended Laundry
A dip in drycleaning business spurred the Croyles’ interest in opening a vended laundry.
“We had an empty spot in our retail strip mall next to the drycleaning plant,” says Croyle. “COVID hit and our drycleaning business dropped 60-70%. Our 1,100 dress shirts a day dropped by half. We stayed open processing clothes and medical facility goods and tried to keep as many of our employees as possible. A laundry seemed like a good solution.”
A growing number of drycleaning operators find the laundry business appealing, according to Croyle: “It can complement the business done by a dry cleaner, while offering new revenue streams with a much lower labor demand.”
In the case of White Swan Laundromat, it also allowed staff to switch from the drycleaning side to the laundry side, offered high-speed equipment for self-service use and processing full-service wash-dry-fold, and helped grow pickup and delivery service. “It’s been a great crossover for us,” Croyle says.
Laundry Vision
To make their laundry idea a reality, the couple worked closely with Eric Vlahos of Advantage Equipment, a full-service distributor based in Akron, Ohio. Vlahos provided a pro forma, financing assistance, laundry designs, equipment and more.
“The Vlahos family owns and operates a laundry, so Eric understood what we needed and helped us with every aspect of the laundry’s development,” Croyle says.
They started small — walling off half of the available space for future expansion. “We built the store with the intention of growing,” Croyle says. “We can double the size overnight and go from 17 to 34 washers.”
Come back Thursday for the conclusion of this series, where we’ll examine White Swan’s laundry set up, as well as plans for the company’s future.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
