People have been washing clothes for as long as they’ve been wearing them. While ancient times saw a very different idea of clothing and how it was washed, the basics were still the same. Whether our ancestors were wearing fur or cloth, the material still had to be laundered in some way.
In previous blog posts, we talked about the history of the washer and dryer. You’ll find details in each of those articles about how they both came to be what we know them as today.
In this article, we are going to discuss the history of laundromats. While the concept of these facilities isn’t as old as clothing itself, traditional launderers have been around for hundreds of years. When we talked about washers previously, we learned that electric models have been around since the early 1900s. That means laundromats were quick to follow.
The first laundromat can be placed in time around the 1930s. The state of Texas can be accredited with the first modern facility. During the Great Depression, self-service became a big deal. Whether it was a gas station or supermarket, the U.S. was excited about the idea of a DIY shopping/service experience. That’s when the laundromat came along. In the beginning, the first store was called a “Wash-a-teria”. It was found in Fort Worth, Texas during the 1930s. The customers would come to use the electric, coin operated machines. They paid by the hour to use the facility's machines. During the Depression, most households couldn’t afford to have an electric washing machine inside the home. They were thrilled to go into a laundromat and pay to have this luxurious service.
As time moved on and we came out of the Depression, public facilities where people could do their own laundry became even more popular. They were in such demand, that the machines were taking a serious beating due to the wear and tear. It got to be such an expense to keep the machines maintained, investors started coming up with a new idea.
Instead of having a facility that had no monitoring as far as management was concerned, they decided to offer hands-on janitorial amenities, equipment maintenance and management. This also meant that stores were able to offer wash-dry-fold services, dry cleaning and more.
Regrettably, this concept didn’t take off as well as investors had hoped. The late 1950s saw that this self-service industry was declining quickly but much to their surprise, it started randomly picking up again during the mid-1960s and 1970s.
Today, laundromats are just a common part of many people's lives. Even if one isn't needed regularly, we still use them for larger items and dry cleaning. To learn more about the history of laundromats and how they came to be what we know today visit back with our next blog post.
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When you combine this with our location finding assistance and evaluation of demographics for the area you’ll find that we go above and beyond to help you open your business as smoothly as possible. Even more, we strive to analyze the competition, including their equipment and location. Our goal is to make your business successful. For more information or to ask any questions, contact T & L, today.
