Meet Lovine and Kat Gopez of Lavanderia Amor in North Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lovine and Kat Gopez.

Lovine and Kat, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Our family has been involved in the auto parts business for the better part of 4 decades. I am part of the second generation, dealing with increasingly competitive online businesses that challenge our brick and mortar stores that have serviced the community for decades.

As a result, our family sought to diversify by splitting our 15,000 sq./ft. warehouse and building out an almost 6,000 sq./ft. laundromat.

I am fortunate that our family entrusted me and my wife Kat to make most of the decisions in building out the laundromat, and also all the details that come along with operating it. The learning experience has been invaluable, and continues every day that our store is open to service the community.

Has it been a smooth road?
Most of the struggles we encountered were early on, being wide-eyed first-time laundromat owners who decided to jump into the deep end by doing a complete build-out of a facility that is easily 3x bigger than your regular laundromat.

The struggles were numerous, and definitely not for the faint of heart. We tried to limit our mistakes by hiring the best suppliers and recommended contractors, but in the end the greatest challenge was to open our doors – it took more than 3 times as long as we anticipated to start operating, due to a combination of city paperwork, inspector scheduling, miscommunication with the contractor, etc. While the auto parts side of the business kept barely afloat, the fear that it would all collapse was entirely possible as we started to fulfill bank obligations with a giant laundromat that had not yet earned a single cent.

Today we are lucky wherein the problems of a stuffed drain valve or sticky coin changer seem immaterial compared to the problems we had trying to open the business. As our business continues to grow, our initial struggles reinforced a work ethic of continuous learning and improvement, to create the best laundromat in the valley.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Lavanderia Amor, we are proud to be one of the biggest, cleanest, and safest laundromats in the San Fernando Valley.

We take pride with our environment – a lot of detail within the laundromat is personally crafted by myself and my wife. Most of our in-store signage and details were personally designed and hand-made. The machine washer and dryer numbers are laser cut and painted by hand, step stools and trash can logos designed and created by my wife, and even our laundry cart signs/branding were personally pressed by us. I find that we are lucky to be motivated to create and learn, and continue to innovate and redefine the laundromat experience as a whole.

We are proud to have a lot of space to move around, and to have a wide selection of washers and dryers – guaranteeing our customers that they will never have to wait in line for any machine! Los Angeles is a busy city, and with our Dexter Express machines, we understand the need of our customers to spend the least amount of time necessary to do their chores, and spend it where it matters – with family.

As a family oriented space, we offer a children’s area complete with soft floors, toys and books, and a dedicated TV that shows family-friendly programming. While most industries seek to create the most revenue out of every last square inch, we are also believers in creating value outside of generating income.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Any city is a good place for business, if you truly work hard and invest yourself in the community that you serve. It helped a lot that we’ve been in our current location for the past 15 years, so when we opened the doors of our laundromat a year ago, it felt like a natural extension of servicing the local community that we already know.

Contact Info:

• Address: 7600 Laurel Canyon Blvd.,
  North Hollywood, CA 91605
• Website: http://www.lavanderia-amor.com
• Phone: (818) 860-0989
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/lavanderia.amor
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lavanderia-amor
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lavanderia-amor-los-angeles
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PavCWGbkN6E

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