PlanetLaundry News- Blogs

BY BOB NIEMAN POSTED JAN 27, 2015 

How to Respond When a New Laundromat Enters Your Market

“Having the best attendants is a major factor,” said Chicago-based laundry broker John Vassiliades. “This factor is much overlooked in today's laundry business. Your attendants must be the best trained, have the best personalities, the best ability to work with customers and take care of problems. When it comes right down to it, it is not the bricks and mortar or the make of the washers and dryers – it’s about people taking care of people.” 

BY BOB NIEMAN POSTED JAN 23, 2015 

Commercial Real State- Trends Issues and Key Considerations for Today's Laundry Owners

John Vassiliades ( J.Vassiliades & Co.)

"There are still a lot of vacancies. That hasn’t gone away. But there is some movement in the positive direction with shopping centers filling out their vacancies. Also, in talking with a lot of shopping center owners, the majority of them feel pretty optimistic that although it’s very slow in coming about, it’s definitely going the right way.

For laundry owners looking to lease, there is less of a chance of getting super deals on rent as time goes on. I think landlords are still making deals, because they want to get their properties filled.

Of course, the good thing about our business is that we’re solid, long-term tenants. Landlords would rather invest in somebody who is going to be signing a 10-year lease than someone who is going to be signing a two-year lease. 

The banks have kind of put the handcuffs on landlords. 
The value of commercial real estate is a direct relationship of the leases a landlord has and the net income from those leases. If their value comes out less than what is owed at the bank, then the bank is all over the landlord. So, it behooves them to make sure they rent out these properties. That’s been a big influence – the banks putting a lot of pressure on the shopping center owners. As a result, they have been spending a lot of money advertising, promoting and trying to get their vacancies filled."