Laundry Facilities & Dry Cleaning Services Industry Overview

Excerpt from Laundry Facilities & Dry Cleaning Services Report

The US dry cleaning and laundry facilities industry includes about 30,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $10 billion. Major companies include Coinmach Service, DRYCLEAN USA, Mac-Gray, and Martin Franchises. The industry includes about 20,000 companies that provide retail laundry and dry cleaning services and account for about 70 percent of industry revenue, along with about 10,000 companies that provide services through coin-operated laundromats and account for about 30 percent of industry revenue. The dry cleaning segment is highly fragmented: the 50 largest firms generate less than 10 percent of revenue. The coin-laundry segment is fragmented: the 50 largest firms generate about 40 percent of revenue.

Competitive Landscape

Demand is related to growth in consumer income. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations and favorable store locations. Large dry cleaning companies can achieve economies of scale by using centralized cleaning operations to serve multiple retail locations. Small companies can compete successfully by owning favorable locations or providing special services. Both segments of the industry are labor-intensive: average annual revenue per employee is about $95,000 for laundromats and about $50,000 for dry cleaners.

Products, Operations & Technology

Major products are retail dry cleaning services and coin-operated laundry services. Other sources of revenue include shoe and clothing repair services and washing machine route operations (servicing of machines in apartment complexes and other multifamily residences).