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There are quite a few people who would like to talk shop with Sydney laundromat chain owner Omer Tas. After opening Stacks Laundry in the inner-west suburb of Marrickville three years ago, he has expanded the self-service outlet to a chain of seven.<\/p>\n
His inbox has become bloated with messages from real estate agents and property developers, as well as plenty of entrepreneurial types, eager for tips on how they, too, can make good money by doing what he does.<\/p>\n
The interest is not unwelcome, but has come with an annoying side effect: it has attracted new rivals nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the interest in this as an investment, it\u2019s getting more saturated, it\u2019s getting more competitive,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like, if you want to open, go find another suburb, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
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Omer Tas, founder of Sydney laundromat chain Stacks Laundry, in the Harris Park store.Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n
In Melbourne, Soap Bar co-founders Constance Bernard and Ben Shaw have spent 13 years smoothing out the wrinkles of their business, both figuratively and literally. When they first opened their laundromat in 2013, they did something unusual at the time: added a coffee machine, put on some music, and let people play Jenga while they waited for their clothes to wash and dry.<\/p>\n
Within five years<\/a>, the number of rivals in a five-kilometre radius tripled. Bernard also runs a Facebook group of laundromat owners across the country as a community forum to exchange advice, but more than 20 new people join the group every passing week.<\/p>\n Most of them underestimate the amount of work that goes into it. \u201cThe depth of technical knowledge needed to successfully establish and operate a laundromat goes far beyond what any Facebook group can provide,\u201d says Bernard. \u201cMany come in feeling well-prepared, only to find that the gaps in their knowledge translate into very expensive lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike their fluorescent-lit predecessors with hard plastic chairs and the vibe of a hospital waiting room, the new generation of swish-looking laundromats \u2013 backlit by neon lights and furnished with free Wi-Fi, pot plants, and sometimes massage chairs \u2013 are designed to be inviting spaces to linger in.<\/p>\n Most of them are built with the same frictionless feel of a fast-food franchise: while most laundromats still take coins, newer washers and dryers are built for tap-and-pay readers. Done well, some laundromats have become an unofficial urban third space \u2013 public places separate to home or work.<\/p>\n One obvious explanation for the boom in fancy laundromats is the post-COVID population surge, the growing number of apartment towers and shrinking unit sizes, all of which have naturally lifted demand in high-density, high foot traffic areas.<\/p>\n But its appeal as a business opportunity has also been fanned online: social media content from corporate-suits-turned-launderers flogging the merits of laundromats as a passive income stream has inflated interest in buying and owning one as a legitimate commercial venture.<\/p>\n Operators upload their experiences to YouTube, divulging financial breakdowns and sharing lessons learnt. Some TikTok videos are essentially coin ASMR (which stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, and is a popular category of online content where people enjoy the sound of something) of people filming themselves pouring buckets of loose change. In a video typical of TikTok account laundromatmoney, which has amassed 2 million views, Californian entrepreneur Carlos Ochoa pulls out fat wads of bills from a machine and feeds it into a cash-counting machine.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people think, \u2018Oh, having a laundromat is such a great business, it just runs itself,\u2019 \u201d says Tas.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you also get phone calls for things that go wrong \u2026 people\u2019s washing getting stuck in the machine, a burst water pipe,\u201d he adds. \u201cPeople don\u2019t see that side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Not everyone who wants to have a crack will make a good go of it. \u201cPeople constantly misjudge the amount of investment required to open a laundromat,\u201d says Kishore Aggarwal, who founded a payments platform that specialises in laundromats.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do get people rushing in, you know, like it\u2019s a gold discovery, but it\u2019s actually not. It\u2019s like any other business.\u201d<\/p>\n The work involved in this \u201cpassive income investment\u201d is understated.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it passive income,\u201d says Tangerpay chief strategy officer Damian Hudson. \u201cMaybe semi-passive.\u201d<\/p>\n The business of washing<\/p>\n The upsides of running a laundromat are intuitive: as a self-service venture, the wages bill isn\u2019t excessive; unlike retail stores or cafes, there\u2019s no inventory or perishable goods to manage; and washing your clothes is essential, making it fairly recession-proof.<\/p>\n But the numbers can add up quickly. The upfront investment in opening a new laundromat sits at around $300,000, according to Tangerpay estimates, but this figure can easily increase depending on the equipment, amenities and the design and quality of the fit-out.<\/p>\n It costs about $700,000 to open a Stacks Laundry, says Tas, who engaged Adelaide boutique architect firm Faculty Designs. Each commercial-grade washer and dryer starts from about $10,000 per machine and can go upwards of $30,000; for Stacks Laundry, the outlay for machines alone amounts to $400,000. Then there are the costs for the engineering designs and the ventilation ducts, which alone costs about $40,000.<\/p>\n An average laundromat will bring in about $9000 to upwards of $20,000 a month for highly patronised outlets.<\/p>\n But the busier it gets, the heftier the bills; gas, electricity, water, and hospital-grade detergent and softener cost about $1500 each a month. Cleaners, who come in every day to clear out the lint drawers and tidy up, cost $2000 a month. Rent can cost between $2500 and $8000 or more a month.<\/p>\n For Tas, expenses round out at $12,000 per laundromat, per month. Most operators aim for a profit margin of about 30 to 40 per cent, according to Tangerpay estimates.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of our stores need to hit about $15,000 to break even,\u201d says the Sydney-based entrepreneur.<\/p>\n But industry newcomers are eroding profit margins. Kirrawee, in Sydney\u2019s south, was once \u201cdominating\u201d as Stacks\u2019 best-performing store. Once rivals opened nearby, revenue dipped by 20 to 30 per cent.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got seven laundromats; three of them are doing really well, to help pay for the other four. And I\u2019m opening so many, so it\u2019s kind of balancing each other out.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article It\u2019s here that serious operators\u2019 investment in equipment and service quality, attentiveness to customer experience, and prompt maintenance can cut through. Tas has invested in high-grade American Speed Queen washers, branding and architectural design, and has learnt to seek locations in shopping centres and car parks to capture high foot traffic.<\/p>\n Operators who have learnt to manage the machines themselves and can diagnose and fix equipment will save significant sums on calling out technicians, says Soap Bar\u2019s Bernard. \u201cThose who can\u2019t will find it very difficult to sustain the business, let alone achieve a return on an investment that can exceed half a million dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n Tas is a one-man show, and does basic maintenance, bookkeeping, admin, customer service, and social media by himself. Despite growing competition, he has observed a few new entrants open and close down. \u201cIt\u2019s all about habits.\u201d<\/p>\n Wash this space<\/p>\n Globally, the demand for self-service laundromats appears to have come at the expense of another group: the traditional dry-cleaner. The proliferation of fast fashion, hybrid work and the casualisation of office attire has shrunk the need to clean suits and formal gowns.<\/p>\n Related Article Overall, Australia\u2019s laundry and dry-cleaning industry has returned to growth: IBISWorld puts industry revenue at $2.5 billion, with profit and profit margins also inching upwards. The number of new businesses has increased 3.8 per cent to 5370 operators.<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly not just entrepreneurs keen to cash in on this space: major investors are surveilling. In Australia, private equity is moving into the wash-and-dry space. In early March, Brisbane-based firm Fortitude Investment Partners acquired a majority stake in laundry equipment and cleaning chemicals business Richard Jay after 55 years of family ownership. Last November, Nash Capital paid $20 million for a 50 per cent stake in laundromat chain Blue Hippo, which has about 40 stores across Victoria and is aiming for a national footprint of 100. In 2023, one laundromat in Melbourne\u2019s outer western suburbs attracted 115 auction bids<\/a> before being sold for $741,000, 16 per cent above its reserve price, and on a yield of 4.7 per cent.<\/p>\n![\"Soap](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e387ab44554711af685faca4fd929f400c0af7d1.jpeg\")
Soap Bar laundrette and cafe in Melbourne.<\/p>\n![\"Location](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/98e0d6ae6702a4fc239e396a333d77fc721eb321.jpeg\")
Location is everything: Laundromats that are close to amenities like shops and cafes will be much more successful, says Stacks Laundry founder Omer Tas.Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n![\"Rohan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/36192954b3a3c8ab212fb9528626da92037577bd.jpeg\")
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