Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ken Wimberly. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ken, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

When we entered the laundromat business we wanted to do things differently. We knew from research that childhood literacy in neighborhoods where laundromats are typically located were at all time lows. We partnered with the Laundry Literacy Coalition and have added a read, play, learn center for children in each of our laundromats. We bring in books each month, we read to children, and we encourage them to take the books home and keep them!

Further, we build a children’s play area into our laundromats with games, kid friendly TV, and sitting areas specifically for kids. We are committed to a welcoming environment for all our guests, no matter how small!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been working in the commercial real estate industry for the past 20+ years. In 2018 I acquired a shopping center in Abilene, TX with a business partner of mine. The center had about 40% vacancy and we were seeking tenants to backfill the vacancy. A consultant told us that our center was an ideal location for a laundromat. We spent a couple of months looking for a laundromat company to lease space from us. The lack of success finding a laundromat tenant led us to exploring the industry and contemplating getting into the laundromat business.

Fast forward to now and we have three operating Laundry Luv locations and are rapidly expanding through acquisition and opening new stores. Laundry Luv is quite different than what you might expect from a laundromat. Our stores are bright, clean, welcoming, fully staffed, full of new high-efficiency machines, and have a dedicated children’s play area and literacy center. Our staff is friendly, helpful, and skilled. Our flagship stores have large footprints of over 6,000 square feet with multiple big screen TV’s showing positive programming (no news, no soap operas, no junk and negativity).

Our staff gets together each month to find a way to give back to the community. Examples of our giving back include supporting breast cancer awareness, giving away backpacks filled with school supplies, giving away turkey dinners for Thanksgiving, bringing in Santa Claus for photos and toy give aways to kids, and even offering a FREE LAUNDRY DAY to support the community.

This has been a gift to me and my partners to be in the laundromat business. It is a natural compliment to our real estate backgrounds and allows us to fulfill our mission of helping and supporting others.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I have two partners in Laundry Luv. I first met Jason Mittman at a real estate conference back in 2012. We had lunch together and I learned he owned a property in Fort Worth that he was soon looking to sell. I helped him to sell the property and then went on to help him buy and sell several others. From there we learned about our mutual passion for fitness, adventure, and the outdoors. We competed in a few Tough Mudder events together and had some epic hikes in Colorado. Eventually we started investing in real estate together, and that led to our exploring the laundromat industry.

Our other partner is Schuyler Williamson. Schuyler is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was an Army Ranger and served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He even had a brief career as a professional baseball player. I met Schuyler when he was hired as the Director of Operations for KW Commercial. I served on his Executive Leadership Council and soon became a big fan of his integrity, ethics, and leadership style. We became good friends and I knew that I would one day love to find a business for us to work on together.

Laundry Luv was the business that brought the three of us together as Co-Founders. We each bring unique strengths to the business. Yet we share common values and a passion for service. This is clearly an example of 1+1+1 = 10!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We are very intentional about being involved in the community. We are members of the local Chambers of Commerce and we participate in community events. We support the local police, fire, and military forces. We have hundreds of positive reviews on Google and constantly here new customers say “WOW” when they walk into our stores.

I had the opportunity to interview dozens of our customers recently. The things below were some if the things that were most important to them and what they valued at Laundry Luv.

> Our stores are kept CLEAN
> We have lots of machines (and some BIG ONES too)
> Big, spacious stores
> Kids play area and literacy area
> Friendly and helpful staff

We care about our team, our customers, and our community. That kind of caring and LUV shows in all we do!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laundryluv.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laundryluv/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laundryluv
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenwimberlyccim/
• Other: https://wimberlyre.com/