
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994                   TAG: 9404070254
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LIBBIE MCCUTCHEON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MANAGER SAYS SETUP DRAWS CUSTOMERS TO COIN-OPERATED LAUNDRY

Frances Gray says she sometimes has to turn off the television set at closing time to get customers to finish their laundry and go home.

Gray, who manages the Grandin Road Laundromat, says the coin-operated laundry usually is busiest at night and on weekends.

The Grandin Road Laundromat is one of several businesses that Roy Steele of Thaxton owns. Steele became involved in the coin-operated laundry business while working for Norfolk Southern Corp. As part of the laundry's business, Steel would accept dry cleaning and send it out to other dry cleaners.

After retiring from the railroad six years ago, he expanded his business to include dry cleaning.

Steele was not happy with the prices or quality of the other dry cleaners, so he bought his own, says Gray. He now owns Vogue Cleaners & Laundry in Roanoke and Salem, the Hardy Road Clean Center and the Westgate Clean Center in Bedford, the Triple S Laundromat in Vinton and the Grandin Road Laundromat.

The Grandin Road facility, says Gray, is successful because it is set up differently from most coin-operated laundries. Instead of having the washers on one wall and dryers on another, the washers and dryers are paired together with tables beside each pair.

Gray says the Grandin Road Laundromat has a drop-off service for dry cleaning and alterations. Orders are picked up every weekday and sent to one of the Vogue shops.

"We also have a drop-off for regular laundry service," says Gray. "A lot of people drop off their clothes as a convenience. With both spouses working outside the home, a lot of couples are giving us their laundry so they don't have to take time away from the family washing clothes."

Also, the Grandin Road establishment always has an attendant on duty.

` "We have good people here to help our customers. Sometimes a person will come in and not know how to wash clothes properly. Our employees will take five minutes to show them the right way to wash clothes," Gray says.

"Our biggest competitors are probably Carter & Jones [Dry Cleaning Inc.] and Air-Lee [Cleaners Inc.]," Gray says.

"In order to compete, we strive to keep everything very clean and to always have an attendant on duty. Having an attendant is very important. A lot of women don't want to come to a laundromat if there is no one on duty."

The Grandin Road Laundromat is at 1414 Grandin Road. The phone number is 344-1611.

by CNB