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Automatic laundromats are now flourishing even in supermarket parking lots: their number has doubled in a few years. However, the vast majority of French people have a home machine. So who are the customers who nevertheless come to run this business?
This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.
They settled almost everywhere in France, especially in supermarket parking lots: outdoor automatic laundromat, available day and night. A man uses it for the first time. He came to wash his daughter’s duvet. “”She does not have a washing machine to get it in it, it’s huge“, He said. Like 96 % of French people, he has a washing machine. But for this big duvet, he quickly made his choice.”I come there, I wash, I wash the car, I do lots of other things, I buy a melon, and it’s over. I find it practical “he continues.
Do your shopping while linen is running is the principle desired by the market leader. In the space of five years, he has doubled the number of his automatic laundromats: 4,000 throughout France. “”We created a new use which was not at all intuitive. It was: ‘I have a machine at home, why would I go to wash my laundry outside?’. Because there are times in the year when it is useful. So that is a little more than a third of our users. Then we have 15% of the people who use us because their machine is down “Indicates Patrick de Baecque, the managing director of Me Group France.
Others do not have a washing machine, such as an intermittent who currently lives in a truck. “”I pass here, we can do the shopping at the same time. But for me, it comes to the same as a lambda laundromat “he confides.
Supermarket managers provide water, electricity, and receive a commission between 12 and 20 % of revenue for turnover of 1,900 euros per month on average for each washing kiosk. A cycle of around thirty minutes costs minimum 5 euros, a deteriorated. In some campaigns, the service becomes essential. As in a village in Tarn-et-Garonne, which has no laundromat or pressing within 10 km. “”Since it opened, I find that it is really a plus for the town. It’s fast, we bring everything, we make it work, then I leave at home, I live at 5 minutes“Rejoices a user.
Sylvie Grando, the manager of the independent laundromat in Grand’eau in Aucamville, confirms her usefulness in the village of 1,500 inhabitants. “There are a lot of small villages around Aucamville. People come here, for them, it was a need to have it at home”, she advances.
