Econowash Laundry

I made an account for several reasons: mostly because I’ve been meaning to, but partially because this place is getting a bad rep here.
If you are looking for a fancy laundromat, a place to hang out, or a place to put your clothes in and leave for an hour, this isn’t the place for you.
If you are looking for a laundromat with machines that work just fine, low prices by comparison to other local laundromats, and timely removal, this is the place for you.
For me, I like to put my clothes into the washers (minimum 2.25 for the top loaders, 2.75 for greater capacity although it is rarely necessary), start them up, and go next door to the Turkish convenience store. Grab a Coke, go back to the laundromat, sit down with a book and read. 28 minutes go by, the machine beeps, and I move the clothes to the dryer. Throw three quarters in there and dry on high, and they’re done in a little over 20 minutes. In total, a week’s worth of laundry costs about 3 bucks, maybe 3.25 if you like your clothes scorching hot out of the dryer.
The machines are always clean when I go, and there’s a parking lot in the back. Do your business, get out in under an hour.
Yes, the walkway is a little narrow between the machines, but that helps when you’re transferring clothes. The floors aren’t the cleanest, but you’re not there for floors. There’s an ATM inside and a change machine that’s always worked for me. No bathroom, unfortunately, so I can’t give it five stars, but everything else is in great order.
It’s in a convenient location, it’s cheap, and it gets the job done. Get in, get out. If you’re looking for more, why?

So, unfortunately I’ve had to outsource my laundry-​doing in the last couple of weeks because the dryer in my building has broken down and my not-​so-​prudent landlord hasn’t been helpful at all in repairs (ugh!!). Twice in the last two weeks, I’ve washed loads of laundry late at night and discovered my dryer hasn’t worked. It’s really great to know that this place is right down the street and is open 24/​7, especially when the Laundry Factory down the street closes at about 9pm (which in general I much prefer to this place). But for convenience-​sake, I appreciate this place. On the cons list, it’s not incredibly clean and I have used dryers that simply don’t work here.

I was all set to want to give this place 3 stars simply because another laundry place put me in a bind and this place was open 24 hrs. I thought the late hours alone should give it a star. Then I had this experience
–Poor ventilation I could barely breath its cramped and small with dryers and washers lining two narrow corridors.
—- misleading advertising it boasts «high capacity» washers an says its air conditioned, well the air conditioners and vents in the ceiling both were dripping in black dust and look like they were installed in 1963. which might have been why I felt an instant asthma attack coming on.
Then the high capacity washers were all of 2… not great enough to meet demand as it turns out one girl took up both of them while I was waiting. Then another woman waited for hers to wash and took up two again this was at 1030-11:00 pm at night so I can only Imagine what its like to try and get one at other hours.
Then there was this guy I guess he was an attendant or the owner, he was wiping down the machines and dryers. I was moving my clothes out of the dryer and I had put my bras hangers and a few shirts on top of my washer. I was literally loading right in the same area and was heading back to grab my things when he touched them!
Ugh laundry violation ya don’t touch someone’s wet clothes it feels like that time in college when someone would mess with you and dump your clothes behind the washers if you didn’t move them out quickly enough. Sooo that pissed me off… but I have to get the job done so I load up my clothes.
I come back in to check on drying clothes… and what do I find but my dryer mysteriously switched from high heat to low heat. Now I am forced to put in another quarter to finish my load. All in all I spent 8 $ at the econowash for 2 large loads I wasn’t able to do my third load in the washers he had for under that. I can do that much at Laundry Factory around the corner though. So I will be going there. I don’t need a creepy dude changing my dryer settings and touching my stuff.

This place is bright and clean and I’ve seen staff taking care of machines every time I’ve been there (different times/​different days) so I imagine it’s well maintained in general. Love that there are bus stops directly in front of and across the street AND that this is a 24-​hour place. I usually spend $ 7.50 every 2 weeks* though I could probably get away with using the single load machines and a few minutes less in the dryer. I especially appreciate the good spin cycle from these washers as that means less time it has to be in the dryer!
Around here, you can walk around the ‘hood while waiting for your cycle to finish (pizza place, convenience store, coffee/​ice cream shops next door, Border’s bookstore down the block, more shops on Ellsworth nearby)
*I’m a female doing laundry for 1 so it takes a while to have enough for separate whites/​color load. I’ve also been to The Laundry Factory a few blocks away and I prefer Econowash over The Laundry Factory.