new owner! help

[gnxsam]

I recently bought a coin wash in hampton roads, virginia. we are located a tad bit off a main street in a strip mall. we sent two weeks completely remodeling the place ourselves, and saved a ton of money of course. are machines are solid and selling candy/soda by having a full time attendant who is great. we do wash dry fold, but here is the problem. the place had been closed for remodeling for 2 weeks and the owner before was strange, had been selling drugs there and creating a bad business. but its the cleanest and nicest it has looked in 10 years- i hear that alot from our customers. we did flyers, a weak grand opening, have a full time attendant during the week and a weekend girl which is great. but business is slow, still less the 1 turn per week on average. but it is picking up now after putting up signs near the street (which have since been stolen) and a now open huge sign out front which has helped. we do have a competitor down the block with a similar sized store, but many people do not like the owner- and our store is cleaner and better lit. but he does have a local girl in there, we do not. it is an area that is a low income area, but our attendant during the week is caucasian and speaks little english- i feel like this is a bad idea, any input on what we could do? please help? i want to makes this work and our place is clean, well lit, safe and offers good services. what else can we do...please chime in

sp

[seflaundry]

I would suggest keep it clean do the best job you can and advertise the crap out of it. It takes time to get business back..... I had a bum issue when i first bought my place which the previous owner forgot to mention and being unattended it went on for a couple of months.... It has taken time to build my business back...

But it is working and all my customers tell me how clean the store is now.

Just keep pushing and do NOT give up.

[TLR]

advertise, pray and keep it clean - it takes a long time to earn customer's trust back. They need to know there is a new owner in there - and it takes money to make money - so go spend some on advertising.

TLR

[frydog1976]

advertise, pray and keep it clean - it takes a long time to earn customer's trust back. They need to know there is a new owner in there - and it takes money to make money - so go spend some on advertising.

TLR

What types of advertising do you recommend?

[Walter]

Question of clarification: You say "...but he does have a local girl in there, we do not. it is an area that is a low income area, but our attendant during the week is caucasian and speaks little english- i feel like this is a bad idea, any input on what we could do?..."

Did you mean to say he has a local girl (from the neighborhood) who speaks the language of the customers, and your attendant is caucasian and doesn't speak the local language? If this is correct, then IMO, this can be a major issue. Your attendant is the major interface between you and the local community and it's often a good way for a new owner to resonate with customers he's trying to lure back, by acknowledging this factor...

Reminds me of a big, beautiful store I once visited in an area that was 101% Hispanic, with many customers not even speaking spanish, but indigenous indian dialects from South America. Guess what kind of music the owner (caucasian) was pumping out of the loudspeakers? Bing Crosby and Lawrence Welk... The store was dead as a doornail.

Walter

[gnxsam]

business is actually picking up now, many of the things we had tried to put in during the building phase have been removed- its hard because one of my partners is also in restaurants and tried to incorporate many of the things done in that biz into the laundromat, none of them worked. we have signs now, store signs, a great attendant, what are some of your thoughts on giving away free soap for a month, and putting up a big banner to advertise this, i will try almost anything to get people back besides using flyers

sp