Meet Jessica and Jonathan Steier of Wash House Laundromat in Silver Lake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica and Jonathan Steier.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Jessica and Jonathan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We imagined a laundromat designed to be a clean and comfortable space to do your laundry in a modern and aesthetically pleasing environment. The idea was to create a unique type of laundry experience. Everyone has to do laundry and we didn’t understand why most were forced to do their laundry in an unsafe, unclean space with poorly maintained and unreliable washing machines. We felt making the laundromat experience enjoyable was a simple but necessary concept. As native Angelenos, we loved the neighborhood feel of Silver Lake and when we found an abandoned laundromat we knew immediately it was the perfect place to start. We designed a space that we knew we would want to come to everyday, modern, simple and easy to use machines. We offer a one stop shop to everyone’s laundry needs so a customer can do their own laundry in our eco-friendly water and energy efficient machines, or if they are squeezed on time they can rest assure our professional attendants would do their laundry with care and attention and we also offer dry cleaning for everyone’s delicate items. This way a customer just needs to go to one place to get all their laundry done. The best compliment is when we see groups of friends coming to do their laundry together with smiles on their faces and not in a rush to leave.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest challenges was educating the customer how our card payment system works. Wash House Laundromat uses a card system rather than quarters which took some time for some customers to get used to. Many customers are used to lugging their quarters around to do their laundry and were surprised to see we were offering a better solution. For some customers, the technology was an adjustment but luckily we have an amazing staff that is patient and walks the customers through the process. Now they purchase a card and register their name and can add money to the card whenever they need to. This allows them to build up points for free washes and gives them the ease to be able to use cash and credit cards. We wanted Wash House to reflect the ease of payment that all business are moving towards. Now we get reviews that customers can’t imagine using quarters again!

Our first year in business has been better than we expected and another one of our biggest challenges is maximizing the space. We didn’t want the space to have a big warehouse feel that you see with many other laundromats. We wanted a more comfortable, intimate, neighborhood space but with that, there are challenges in making sure we maximize every inch of the space. We don’t want anyone to walk in and leave because it feels too crowded.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Wash House Laundromat – what should we know?
Wash House is not your typical laundromat. We service the local neighborhood with over 28 all new eco-friendly energy and water efficient machines. The modern space is your one stop shop for all your laundry needs. We are a local independently, owned and operated store that feels comfortable as soon as you walk in. We pride ourselves on friendly staff to help anyone who needs it. We use an automated card system that takes the work out of getting coins and tracks your usage for free washes. When you have a pile of dirty clothes, but not a pile of time we offer a quick and professional drop off service with our signature bag of gummy bears attached. For all your delicate items, we offer premiere dry cleaning service. We know that clean clothing is necessary so we aim to make the process as easy as possible. We have Wi-Fi so you can do your work while you wait, all kinds of detergents and laundry products to purchase at our small retail counter.

In addition, we support local artists by displaying their work in the space. We figured if you are spending 2 hours in a laundromat you might has well look at the beautiful work from the neighborhood.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The laundry business is pretty simple, people want clean, safe and comfortable spaces to do their laundry. But it’s amazing that so little laundromats offer that. We pride ourselves on our customer service and amazing staff, cleanliness and well-maintained machines. We are always open to suggestions and better ways to do business and really enjoy spending time with our customers getting to know them.

Contact Info:

• Address: 625 Silver Lake Blvd.
  Los Angeles, Ca 90026
  (in the Mikron Liquor Center)
  ample parking
  Open 6am-10pm everyday
• Website: www.washhousesilverlake.com
• Phone: 323.451.9601
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credit:
Photo Credit: David Benhaim @ Readygopictures