Couple transforms rundown laundromat into community hub with free laundry days
Jon and Erin Carpenter said they never expected to own a laundromat business, but all of that changed when they embarked on a cross-country road trip during the coronavirus pandemic.
"We bought an RV and traveled and worked remotely for four months," Erin Carpenter told "Good Morning America." "We took this RV trip and that's where laundromats came in."
The couple said as they utilized laundromats across the country to do their own laundry, they saw what a vital role the businesses played in the local communities.
"We saw all different types of laundromats and all different types of people that go to laundromats," said Jon Carpenter. "We would see some really cool ones that were ... in higher-end locations and they would have brew on tap and have all this stuff for those areas, but when we would be in certain areas of towns that weren't necessarily higher income, they would be run-down, like they were neglected and left behind."
The Carpenters said that in many laundromats, they'd see parents and grandparents who were there all day washing multiple loads of laundry, with kids by their side.
When the North Carolina-based couple decided to relocate to Charleston, South Carolina, at the end of their RV trip last year, Jon Carpenter said he noticed a laundromat on the market.
"We had no plans to get into the laundromat [business]," he said. "When we moved to Charleston, we knew we wanted to get involved in the community somehow, and I've always been entrepreneurial with doing renovations on houses and new projects, and we just love building things, creating things and particularly things that there's life in them, but people can't see it, so I just went into this rabbit hole and became obsessed with laundromats."
The laundromat Jon Carpenter found for sale was in an area of Charleston that had been largely abandoned for decades after the closing of a Navy shipyard. The laundromat had a bustling business, he said, but was in need of repair.
"Our thought is, if we can bring in [Erin's] design skills, bring some technology, fix some things and renovate, it will not only be something amazing for the community, but maybe it'll be a good business too," Jon Carpenter said. "So that was our hope."
The couple said they purchased the laundromat last July, and spent the next six months watching how people used the space and learning from the previous owner the ins and outs of running a laundromat.
On New Year's Eve, they hosted a free laundry day with a local charity organization, and then closed the laundromat for renovations on Jan. 1, 2023.
Erin Carpenter, who previously worked as a video producer, documented the transformation that took place inside the laundromat over the next three months. She designed and DIY'ed the entire space, while her husband helped her and worked on upgrading the laundry machines.
In late March, the couple reopened the doors to their business, Reynolds Laundromat.
"Their eyes were as big as stars," Jon Carpenter said of customers' reactions. "One guy named Frank just sat there the whole day staring at it. Every time I'd say, 'How are you doing Frank?,' he'd say, 'Amazing.'
The Carpenters said they kept the pricing the same for their customers and implemented a hybrid model of payment since some customers wanted to continue to use quarters.
They added more seating, including picnic tables for families and chairs that are comfortable for resting, as well as a kids area that features books, coloring materials and toys.
Erin Carpenter shared the before and after in a TikTok video that has gone viral with more than 1 million likes.
The Carpenters celebrated the grand reopening last month with a second free laundry day, this one helping more than three dozen people.
"The last one we had was huge because we had a lot of donations," said Carolyn Smith, who works with the local charity, the Lowcountry Blessing Box Project, to organize the free laundry days. "What [Jon and Erin] have done to the laundromat is amazing. It's just out of this world."
Of watching the Carpenters in action in their laundromat, Smith added, "We had a guy who came in who was kind of standoffish. He wouldn't sit down or come and engage with us, and next thing I know Jon was over there, sitting and talking to him and they were laughing. There was another guy who came in who had some clothes in a bag that needed washed. Erin went and got the clothes out of the bag and put them right in the washer."
"They have a heart for the people and that makes me want to work with them," Smith said of the couple.
The Carpenters said they have already received enough requests and donations to start hosting multiple free laundry days a month at Reynolds Laundromat.
Erin Carpenter said she and Jon have always created community in their personal lives, hosting parties for friends and family and, on their past project, transforming a run-down house into a community-focused bed and breakfast.
Now, with their experience owning their first laundromat, she said they're looking to build community areas in other spaces.
"Let's really harness that and really think community-forward specifically and see where that can take us," she said. "Because if anything, [the laundromat] has brought to our attention that people want that. People are craving that community and we want to give it to them."
Editor's note: This was originally published on April 20, 2023.
