Business advertises 48-hour clean clothes

Students no longer have to spend hours waiting for available washers and dryers, counting change to feed the machines and folding all their laundry.

Instead, students can drop off their dirty clothes and linens to Laundry in a Flash in the Tri-Towers Rotunda on Tuesday afternoons. They can pick them up, clean and folded, Thursday afternoon.

The new student-run business is a product of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation.

“We’re all about convenience for students to save them time and stress because college life is crazy as it is,” said manager Michelle Wilson, who is also a public relations graduate student.

She said the core plan for the business began with a student in an entrepreneurial class who has since graduated.

Wilson was hired before she graduated to take the plan and develop it into the “working, living, breathing thing it’s become today.”

“It’s been a great experience starting with all of this from the beginning,” Wilson said. “I never thought I’d be doing this, running a business at 23.”

How does Laundry in a Flash work? &bull Drop off dirty laundry between 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Tri-Towers Rotunda. Pick it up clean Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Tri-Towers Rotunda. &bull Students can sign up for laundry service by the pound or sign up for a package deal. Laundry is $1.25 by the pound. A month package, with one bag a week of up to 20 pounds, is $80. Each additional pound costs $1. The mid-term special is one bag per week of up to 20 pounds is $127. Each additional pound is 85 cents. &bull Students can pay by check, FlashCash or credit card.

She said the student who graduated made the initial contact with Hattie Larlham, a nonprofit that provides services to more than 1,500 children and adults with developmental disabilities.

They expressed interest, Wilson said. That was critical because Hattie Larlham also has the facilities and workers to clean the laundry.

“They already had a pretty good system for their residents,” she said, assuring students’ clothes won’t get mixed up or lost.

Juanita Greenwood, executive director of adult services at Hattie Larlham, said the clothes are sorted individually. Customers fill out an inventory sheet and note any special care instructions. She said they don’t mix light and dark colored clothing.

“Michelle tells me they appreciate that the clothes are clean, folded and smell nice,” Greenwood said, adding that she picks up and drops off the laundry herself. “I’m glad to get such responses. (The residents) take a lot of pride in their work as well.”

Wilson has seen several customers and several repeat customers, something she described as exciting.

“Their response was like, ‘Wow, there’s a laundry service on campus?'” she said, adding that parents were especially enthusiastic. “They were excited, especially those who were concerned about children bringing laundry home; they wanted to see their child more than their child’s laundry.”

“You just pick it up, take it back, and you’re good to go,” Wilson said.

Contact enterprise reporter Nicole Stempak at [email protected]