The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

SUPERWASH is investing $3 million in a new “state-of-the-art” laundromat off the Charles Saunders Highway, its president telling this newspaper yesterday that the new location would likely create 10 jobs when it opens in September 2014.

Dioniso D’Aguilar said roughly $2.5 million is bieng invested into the construction of Superwash’s 10th location, with another $500,000 in equipment, for a total capital injection of some $3 million, excluding the price of land.

“It’s going to be an extremely modern, state-of-the-art laundromat. It’s going to look beautiful. It’s going to be a real first-class facility,” Mr D’Aguilar said.

“We think it’s a great neighbourhood. There is a lot of residential components in that area. Charles Saunders Highway is a very busy east/west corridor, and we think that market is very under-served.

“The fear is that we don’t create additional sales, that we just pull from our existing location. But we’re hoping that doesn’t happen and we create a new market for ourselves.”

Explaining the reason behind the investment, Mr D’Aguilar said: “Unfortunately, if you keep your money in the bank, you don’t get anything. It makes sense to invest.

“If you’re getting 7,8,9 or 10 per cent return on your investment, that’s certainly better than leaving it in the bank. For those who have surplus funds and have a good business idea, this is the time to invest. Obviously there is tremendous uncertainty with the whole tax situation and how that is going to affect demand, but you have to take a risk.”

Mr D’Aguilar added that Superwash had invested a significant amount to-date in terms of upgrading its laundromats.

“Last year we upgraded our Gibbs Corner location. That cost us $2 million, and this year we’re spending $3 million to build a new location,” he added.

“Next year we are probably going to spend another $1 million to address our laundromat on Soldier Road. We’re spending a lot of money to upgrade our business. You can’t do all in in a day, it takes time.”

Mr D’Aguilar said: “We have introduced a lot of technology into the business to try and measure our performance in terms of maintenance. You can’t obtain efficiency and cost effectiveness unless you deploy technology in your business. We have been doing that a lot in something as old fashioned as going to the laundromat.”

Mr D’Aguilar added that sales were still flat, saying: “We’re still not back to 2007-2008 levels. Sales are still essentially flat, probably up 1 or 2 per cent. We have had to spend a lot of money of late to maintain the market share, and we’re still not back to 2007-2008 levels in terms of overall sales.

“We have had to do a lot of major upgrades and spend a lot of money keeping our locations in relatively good condition,. It’s quite hard keeping nine locations up and running, but we have made that investment. My goal is to make it so that people find it more convenient to go to a  laundromat than to have a washer or dryer in their home. That’s my competition.”