The boom in vended laundries

Translated by Girbau
4 Expansión Tuesday December 9, 2014
CATALUNYA
The boom in vended laundries
A NEW PHENOMENON IN THE NEIGHBOURHOODS OF BARCELONA /
It is becoming increasingly common to see this type of premises,
which offer an alternative that is cheaper than dry cleaners and make it possible to do the laundry in less time. The profile of their customers is increasingly local.
Irene G. Pérez. Barcelona
A business offering security in
terms of return on investment,
with payment in advance and
without staffing costs, and that is
open every day of the year from
eight in the morning till ten in the
evening. This is how the owners
of self-service laundries define
their business model - a type of
establishment that is increasingly
present in the neighbourhoods of
Barcelona.
Initially it was immigrants
and foreign tourists who used
this service most, but the local
population is catching on and
developing a taste for it. The
owners say that regular users
include students and young people
living alone, and people who want
to wash large items (such as duvets
or curtains), and these prefer a
more cost-effective option than
dry cleaning. Yet it seems that the
clientele is increasingly diversified.
“If they were only tourists, it
would not be as strong as it is”,
says Xavier Llacuna, founder of La
Wash. Roberto Haboba, owner of
Splash and Fresh, also points out
that many users who initially use
their services for washing a large
item return to wash their normal
linen.
Main manufacturer
While it is true that every
establishment and every chain has
its peculiarities in terms of design,
washing machines and service
(free WiFi, for example), the
authorship of the machines can
be traced to one source: Girbau.
This company, based in Vic
(Barcelona-Spain), is the market
leader in industrial laundry,
has 14 subsidiaries around the
world —their main market is the
USA— and employs 600 people.
In 2013, it had a turnover of 106
million euros, of which between
18 million and 20 million came
from the vended laundry sector,
between washers (10 million
euros), dryers, payment stations
and soap and fabric softener
dispensing systems.
According to Marc Caralt,
Girbau’s brand manager, the
boom in vended laundries can be
explained by the crisis, the lack of
time —several washes can be done
simultaneously—, immigration —
people who had this habit in their
country of origin— and by the
trend in wearing more clothing
made of cotton and other easy-toclean fabrics.
La Wash, a chain that is growing rapidly
A La Wash laundry in Calle Comte Borrell, 38, in Barcelona
The La Wash chain of
laundries started three years
ago in Barcelona and now
has 23 establishments, two
of them in Portugal. “We
have to keep working hard to
keep growing,” insists Xavier
Llacuna, the manager and
founder of the company. 30%
of the outlets are run by the
chain itself and the rest are
franchises. The forecast for
the coming year is to double
its presence, since the model
is easy to replicate and they
have received offers to open
in several Spanish cities.
Llacuna worked for many
years for a high consumption
multinational and knew
the trading sector when
he decided to embark on
the La Wash project. The
profile of his customers is
diverse, ranging from families
returning from their holidays
(they need to do a lot of
washes and his services save
them time), small businesses
that are in the vicinity and
need to wash items, men who
live alone, etc. “If they were
only tourists, it would not
be as strong as it is”, insists
the founder. An average
establishment registers
around a hundred cycles a
day. Without the discount
offered by the chain’s loyalty
cards, a wash in their biggest
washing machine, the 18
kg washer, costs 7.5 euros,
and one in the smallest one,
4.5 euros with detergent
included.
LQS: from dry cleaning to self-service
Laundering is a more
economical option for the
user than dry cleaning.
Knowing this, and given
that many self-service
laundries were beginning
to open up, Grup Ninot
chose to defend themselves
with a pre-emptive strike.
Ninot has three laundries,
one in Solsona and two
in Barcelona. Of the two
that it has in the Catalan
capital, one is located
at Number 217, Calle
Villarroel, close to Hospital
Clínic. “We had always
been involved in dry
cleaning and laundering,
and we didn’t want them to
open a self-service laundry
next door to us”, they
explain, since it is centrally
located with many hotels
and tourist apartments.
The result is the vended
establishment Laundry
Quality Services (LQS),
in Calle Casanova, 172.
“Tourists have been asking
us about them for some
time, because this type of
service is very common
in other countries”, they
point out. Students and
people who are passing
through the hospital also
figure strongly among
their customers. Between
15 and 20 users a day pass
through their facilities,
paying 9 euro to use the 13
kg washing machine, and 6
euros for the 8 kg washer.
The LQS vended laundry is in Calle Casanova, 172
Splash opts for the establishments with design
Roberto Haboba opened
his first vended laundry in
Barcelona eight years ago - a
business model that was
then a rarity in Spain but
more common in his native
Argentina. “At that time the
users were mostly immigrants
who shared a flat with many
people, or European tourists,
because in the rest of Europe
this has been going for many
years,” he explains. But that
has changed now. The profile
has diversified because
people have realised that
these machines “wash better,
consume less than at home
and save time”, says Haboba.
Two and half years ago he
opened the vended laundry
Splash in Calle Diputacio,
199, a premises with a design
that could well be mistaken
for a cocktail bar or a disco.
The non-discounted price
for a wash of up to 8 kg is 5
euros, and for one of up to
17 kg, 10 euros. Splash also
has a smaller establishment
in Calle Sicilia, 348, and is
negotiating to open franchises
in cities such as Paris,
Munich and New York. The
entrepreneur is also owner
of the Fresh brand, a chain
of vended laundries with
a franchise model, which
currently has eight laundries
in the metropolitan area of
Barcelona.
Fresh Box launches the mobile laundry
The Fresh laundry chain,
which is a year and a half
old and was also founded
by Roberto Haboba, has
two business models. One
is the classic self-service
establishment with its
washers, dryers, payment
machine and domotic
doors that open and close
the shop automatically. In
a format of five washing
machines and three
dryers, between 16 to 20
complete cycles (washing
and drying) are registered
each day, and the initial
investment for a franchisee
is around 70,000 euros.
The other is the mobile
vended laundry model. The
prototype, which will be
marketed under the brand
Fresh Box, was finished
two months ago and was
presented in this year’s
Hostelco trade fair, held in
late October in Barcelona.
This module, which already
exists in other countries, is
an opportunity for petrol
stations and supermarkets,
for example, which can
rent part of their space out
to site these laundries “on
wheels”. Fresh currently has
eight laundries, and intends
to triple this figure over the
coming year. Using the 8 kg
washing machine costs 4.5
euros and the 17 kg washer,
9 euros.
Prototype of mobile laundry designed by the Fresh chain.

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