New Mat Coming To Neighborhood.

[bodman]

There is a new mat in the works 2 miles away from The existing mat (maytag home style excellent shape) it does very good numbers , My question is has anyone here experienced new competition opening and what effect it had on your mat, both are attended . This is a suburban setting

[pete f]

take the number of stores within the radius and devide by it. I would say 20% to 30% is normal.

[TLR]

Hold on for a 30 -40 % drop in business and a very slow climb back to pre- opening numbers - as much as 2 years.

TLR

[amartlock]

TRL -- Why would you say the numbers will climb back to pre-opening levels? even after as long as 2 years?

[ajay]

forget about what might happen "future is mystery"....see if you tidy up yourself your place if need be. What is customer experience right now in your store? After the dust settles in, you'll get some back and some will never come back. It will then becomes a game of convenience. And also customer experience. What can you tell us or yourself about the state in which your laundry is in right now?

I know of a store owner who redid his place including bought the current building prior to a brand new maytag store opening directly across the street from his store.....ofcourse he has suffered loses but not to the degree in which where needed to shutdown. Over time, the market has levelled for both stores. As others stated, "pie is only so big, with another player in the market, the new store will get piece of that pie".

ajay

[TLR]

AMARTLOCK

It does not come back on its own. You must have a top notch store to begin with, advertise, differentiate yourself on your MarQuis billboard, be fair and honest, have good attendants, and good or better pricing, give stuff away, and get ready for the long run - and over time you should be able to build your business back up.
My point in the post was to be patient.

[Anonymous]

When you say HOMESTYLE do you have one with all toploaders? If you do I would replace most washers with larger machine before they open. Our older store have mostly toploaders when we bought it . But we have replaced 24 washers with larger machines and just added 4 new 80lb dryers. Were also adding some new double load machines in place of toploaders. You gotta keep up with the times.

[DuboisLaundry]

if all you have is top loaders, where do people wash sleepingbags and comforters?