Sample issue

Issue #01 — What a laundromat actually costs to open in 2026

What does it actually cost to open a laundromat? We added it up.

---

The lead story: the real cost stack

Ask ten people what it costs to open a laundromat and you'll get ten answers, most of them from someone selling you something. Equipment vendors quote the machines. Brokers quote the "turnkey" number. Landlords quote the TI allowance. None of them quote the whole stack, so we did.

A new laundromat's cost breaks into five buckets. Here they are, in the order they hit your bank account:

1. Lease and leasehold improvements. First month, security deposit, and whatever the landlord isn't covering. In most markets, plan on the deposit plus 2–3 months of rent sitting idle while you build out [VERIFY — illustrative]. The buildout itself — plumbing rough-in, drainage, electrical service upgrades, gas lines, flooring, storefront — is the bucket most first-timers underestimate. Illustrative working range: $150K–$400K for a full buildout on a 2,000–3,000 sq ft shell, before a single machine is installed [VERIFY — illustrative estimate, not surveyed data].

2. Equipment. Washers, dryers, water heaters, and the ancillary stack (change machines, card systems, security). This is the biggest single line item and the one vendors are happiest to finance for you — which should tell you something about the margins in it. Illustrative working range: $200K–$500K for a new-equipment package at typical store size [VERIFY — illustrative estimate]. OEM-certified refurbished equipment can cut this by around 40% (per equipment marketplace accio.com, 2026) — with tradeoffs we'll cover in Issue #03.

3. Soft costs. Permits, architectural drawings, legal (lease review — do not skip this), insurance binders, signage. Illustrative: $25K–$75K [VERIFY].

4. Working capital. The store won't cash-flow on day one. You need 6–12 months of rent, utilities, loan payments, and payroll covered while the customer base builds. This is the bucket that kills undercapitalized opens. Illustrative: $50K–$150K [VERIFY].

5. The "oh right" fund. Contingency. If your budget has no contingency line, your budget is fiction. 10–15% of the total above.

Add it up: lender data puts a new build anywhere from $250K to $3M (Zarla, 2026, citing Nav) — the spread is real, driven by market, size, and how much of the work you GC yourself. The five buckets above are an illustrative breakdown (no source publishes it this way); use them as a checklist, not a quote.

The takeaway for buyers: when a broker tells you "you could build new for $X," ask which of the five buckets are in that number. Usually the answer is two.

---

Short items

Private equity keeps sniffing around. Per the Coin Laundry Association's Full Cycle Magazine (Sept 2026), PE is entering the space modestly and new franchise concepts are scaling. Translation: the buyer pool for good stores is getting more professional, and more expensive to compete with. If you're buying, your underwriting needs to be sharper than the guy with the spreadsheet team.

The "aspire buyer" wave is real. Corporate escapees with 401(k)s and SBA pre-approvals are bidding on stores — also per CLA reporting. This is pushing multiples up on listed stores and making off-market deals more valuable. If you own a store and aren't getting broker letters yet, you will be.

One tiny newsletter validated this whole beat. The Laundry Operator on Substack has ~240 subscribers. That's not a business — it's a proof of demand. There's an audience here and nobody is serving it with real data. That's why we exist.

---

By the numbers

Figure	Value	Source
US laundromat industry size	~$7.3B	IBISWorld, 2026
US stores	~30,000	Coin Laundry Association
Median newsletter free→paid conversion	0.62%	Beehiiv first-party data, June 2026
B2B newsletter sponsorship CPM	$75–$150	Market research, 2026

(We're starting our benchmark database from scratch — see the survey in Issue #02's follow-up. Every number we publish that comes from our own survey will be labeled as such, with sample size. Everything else gets a [VERIFY] or a source.)

---

Operator takeaway

Before you sign anything, build the five-bucket budget yourself — in a spreadsheet, with your market's actual rents. Vendor quotes are marketing. Your spreadsheet is due diligence. If the numbers only work with best-case assumptions in every bucket, the deal doesn't work.

---

Suds & Cents is the independent intelligence brief for laundromat owners and investors. No vendor owns us, no association edits us. If a number in here is wrong, tell us — we'll print the correction.