Laundromats in Poland? Good business venture or not?

fox wrote:


yes it's common. people don't have dryers in poland.

Here you have link to webpage of laundromat in Warsaw, Poland:
pralniasamoobslugowa.com

It is a great necessity especially in university towns and places near high rise apartment blocks where there is no drying possibility.

For Gods Sake - Somebody please open some laundromats in Poland!!!!!

$150.00 US Dollars to wash two loads using the hotels service and it takes two days! - are you kidding me!!

There are a few self-service laundries in Krakow. Best one is Frania on the corner of Dietla and Starowislna.

Omg $150.00 is absurd!

The laundromat near my home is a buck & a half a load!

I've stayed in the hotel a couple of times and whilst having a drink in the bar there's a steady flow of people doing their laundry and the machines seem to run almost continuously.

Try a private laundry. They are usually much cheaper than that. The bits that don't need ironing: use the bathroom sink.

Laundromats might be OK but all the flats I've been in here in Gdansk already have washing machines.

Overtime, even better :)

Because there are no laundromats. If there were, many singles would opt to use them rather than investing in a washing machine.

Not likely. If a single person should not have a washing machine in Poland, they would use the one at a friend's or family member's home before they would even consider using a laundromat. The dearth of laundromats in Polish cities attests to low demand, not low supply. If there were a demand, rest assured it would have already been met.

Demand is created by advertising. Has anyone seen any laundromat being advertised in the media, on billbaords or wherever?

Not if there is no potential market. If there were a potential market, it would already be served. Hundreds before you have undoubtedly considered the matter, done the math, and found it unfeasible, which is saying a lot for a country that has a pharmacy, a pizzeria, a kebab stand and a sushi parlor on just about every corner. There's no shortage of entrepreneurs.

Launderettes (I presume that's what you mean by laundromat) do exist in Poland however they are very few and far between and have not been a success.

Dominic is right - their absence shows lack of demand. I'd disagree about people doing their laundry at friends. People if they are young and go home from the city at weekends (many do) take the laundry with them. Others who can't afford a washing machine (and they are by the way cheap in Poland) tend to do it by hand.

So that is isn't a business opportunity. Better to invest in buy to let property in the UK, especially northern English cities. A cheap flight away from Poland when you have to go there and very good returns in terms of outlay.

There's one in Wrocław that I know of, and it was VERY expensive.


I've had friends do their laundry at my place.


Very common, especially among students and young workers. A lot of young people with oversized suitcases or bags on trains on Friday and Sunday evening.

I know one in Warsaw - it's pretty well empty and only exists because they own the premises (the old 'drying room' in a large block of flats) anyway.


Same here although I know more people who just do their washing in the bath. Sales of the type of powder for hand-washing are high in Poland.


This is really common, people who rent or even own flats but go home every weekend by car take washing back, don't cook for themselves but just reheat stuff. This isn't off topic, since anyone with an idea for a small business in urban Poland has to take into account this demographic and their lack of ready cash as well as their staying in town only during the week.

Dunno about Britain, but why then are laundromats so common and popular in the States? They're actually social institutions --- while waiitng for their wash and drying cycles to end, people, drink coffee, read magazines, chat with other laundromat users, even meet ttheir future spouse. Reportedly a good place for single ladies to meet unattached eligible males?!

Exactly the same, Po3. The situation in Warsaw etc is different (though there may be room in the market for one or two, provided the area was chosen very very well). In London, there are a lot of subdivided houses where there isn't space or the residents are passing through and don't want to buy a machine until they've got a real place of their own. Plus the tradition of launderettes that grew up when the washing machine was a new thing and out of most people's financial reach. And they also often do dry cleaning, service washes etc. My granny never had a washing machine - she could afford one but preferred the launderette. Worth mentioning that they are dying out fast in the UK now.

In Poland, the housing stock in cities tends to be newer with space for a machine in the bathroom and people stay in the flats long enough to make one worthwhile.

The OP should think seriously about buy-to-let in the UK. It's doable from Poland (if he's near an airport) and in the North it produces good yields. He could buy in Poland, but really it's big cities only, where the demand is.

You could open a laundromat which is combined with an internet cafe or meeting rooms in a place where students are likely to congregate. Get good advice from someone who already runs something similar.

I know for certain, the one in Krakow (Frania) runs for 24 hours a day every day of the week and it is always full. They do washing for individuals, hostels, hotels.

You must do your market research thoroughly before starting any sort of business. This is a long term commitment.

Basically, because Americans generally don't have as strong an interdependence with family and friends as do Poles, and also because of habit and tradition.


Internet cafes are unprofitable and most have closed down in the last 10 years. I only know of one that is left in Wrocław. And students are very frugal spenders, and the least likely segment of the population to use a commercial laundromat, so a "meeting room" is not going to bring in any money. Both ideas would decrease, not increase, whatever profitability the laundromat might have.

Dominic speaks truth - the internet cafe is on its way out. Maybe 10 years ago.
As for the laundromat - it might work in a student area, with heavy advertising and so on, but in general I would agree that there are no launderettes in Poland for a reason.

I remember having an Italian student to stay and him being rather amused at the launderette that I sent him to, as such a thing does not exist in Italy. You have a washing machine or handwash or mumma does them...similar to Poland I imagine.

I remember one fifteen years ago in a student district of Edinburgh, and very successful it was, too. In Poland students have laptops, tablets or phones, and wi-fi is all over the place. Their dorms also have washing facilities, although the Friday night buses are hard to negotiate with all the backpacks crammed with laundry for mothers across the nation.

Yes. There's a university near my home and no launderette in sight. Even the only bar in the area (no students' union bar for some reason) doesn't do much business and the only business that does any trade is a kebab van that also sells pens, paper and pot noodles.

There simply isn't the target market for launderettes in Poland. there are cheapish laundries that do service washes (charged by the item), there's washing your clothes in the sink, but not really anything in between except for buying a washer. They are quite cheap in PL.

Here's the best explanation I've heard so far:
When you do the laundry at a laundromat you must dry your clothes in the dryer.
Drying clothes in the dryer damages them more quickly.
Polish people pay through their nose for decent clothes and take care to make them last,
choosing instead to dry them in the air.

no , tumble drying keeps your clothes in better condition. IME.

All those people complaining about shrunken clothes and faded colors from drying in the open air....

I agree with Roz here.Anyway, not everyone who uses launderettes also uses the dryers.

yes me , especially in the summer, clothes fade in the sun and get acid rain on them which gives them weird stripes

The sooner you begin drying your clothes the better, and you should dry all your better clothes on drying racks inside.