Laundrette helping community through cost of living crisis
BUSINESS KEPT OPEN DESPITE IT NOT MAKING FAMILY ANY MONEY
RUNNING a business anywhere is difficult, but doing it during a cost of living crisis straight after a pandemic is even harder.
For the Ghuman’s, this is exactly what they’ve done.
Running a shop as well as a launderette, the family have their work cut out, but have kept both going to help the community around them.
After opening their launderette on Lord Street, Grimsby, in August 2020, during the height of Covid, it was originally opened to help people who needed to wash their clothes but weren’t able to do so at home for a number of reasons. Following that, the family have continued to keep it going, even though it doesn’t make them any money. Hardip explained: “The property was empty when we took over the newsagents and at first we thought about turning it into a cafe, but people started saying they wanted a launderette when we asked them what to do with it and so that’s what it became. “Eventually, we got permission and started putting in a lot of money and time to get it open.”
In August 2020, it officially opened, but the Ghumans weren’t sure how successful it would be.
Hardip added: “We weren’t sure anyone would come, but at 9am on the day of opening we had people queuing at the door to get in. We find we get a range of customers in though, from those who work away and come to use it whilst they’re home and others who use it time and time again.
“It’s also great for people who work at home, if they don’t have a working washer they can pop and use ours and go home to work again.” However, without the shop, Hardip admits he couldn’t keep his family going, meaning the launderette is there more for those who use it than to make money.
He said: “It’s more about it being available for the people than for me and my family. If I only had the launderette, I couldn’t run my family, especially with the cost of energy at the minute, which is why we have the shop too. “With the launderette, we can help everyone who uses it and we’ve even bought a coffee machine to stop people from getting cold when they’re in there. As well as that, it’s been great for us to get to know people in the area.” One customer in particular has had a profound impact on the family’s nineyear-old son, Amanpreet.
The 80-year-old lady comes most weekends to wash her clothes and talks to the family’s son all about his week at school. The pair get on so well that he even bought her a bunch of flowers for Mother’s Day. Parminderjit explained: “The launderette is also a place for people to make friends and I don’t think any of us thought it would be. It’s worked so well and gone better than we ever thought it could, before this we’d never thought of opening a laundry.
“If I’m honest, we prefer the launderette to the shop as we get so many nice people in there just wanting a chat and we want to keep it going for that reason. It was great for people during Covid and it’s great now during the cost of living crisis.”
During these difficult times, the family say it’s worth the cost to offer something the community benefit from. Hardip said: “It costs around £1,000 a year in insurance and a call-out fee is £250 and even though it may not be cheap we’ll keep it going for people. It makes enough to keep it running, but it’s not about the money to be honest. “People come just to speak to us or the other people in there sometimes, even without bringing any washing.” Natasha Wildsmith, who uses the launderette says it’s been a god send for her family. She said: “It’s way more efficient than my washing machine at home.
“I get double the amount in one go here than I do at home. I can get eight loads done for £20, which is much better than what my washer and drier at home would cost. Plus, the people who use it are lovely, which makes it a great place to be.”