By Megan SaylesAFRO Enterprise Writermsayles@afro.com
After a number of years of a former laundromat sitting vacant in Walbrook Junction, Tawana and Roger Bhagwat are bringing laundry service again to the West Baltimore purchasing heart. The husband and spouse workforce are getting ready to open The Wash Zone, a coinless laundry facility, this spring.
For the Bhagwats, the enterprise is greater than a method to generate revenue, it’s an initiative to convey sources to a neighborhood that’s suffered from long-term disinvestment.
“That is extra to us than simply earning money. That is really about offering a necessity to our neighborhood however doing it at one other stage,” mentioned Tawana Bhagwat. “Our motto is, ‘Expertise clear in another way.’ We wish this place to be a spot the place there’s a commonplace—a spot that has fashionable expertise, is clear and a spot the place our individuals really feel welcome.”
Opening up a laundromat was at all times a bucket-list merchandise for the Bhagwats. Every has had expertise as entrepreneurs. Roger Bhagwat beforehand ran a physique store, whereas Tawana Bhagwat operates the human sources consulting agency Group At Its Finest.
Once they realized that Chicago Development, a industrial growth firm led by Lyneir Richardson, bought Walbrook Junction and was on the lookout for a brand new laundry operator, they seized the chance.
Comfort and expertise have been two priorities for the Bhagwats when devising the idea for The Wash Zone.
“Clients can drop their garments off and get alerted after they’re able to be picked up. We’re additionally contracting by Uber, Lyft and Doordash to do pick-ups and drop-offs for the wash and fold service to make it extra handy,” mentioned Roger Bhagwat. “There’s no want for coin pouches, we use a card system.”
The laundromat permits clients to load laundry playing cards with debit and digital profit switch (EBT) playing cards and cellular fee providers, like Money App and Apple Pay.
The Bhagwats have additionally created three initiatives to help the encompassing neighborhood: Begin Recent, Begin Clear and Begin Shiny. The primary will welcome men and women residing in transitional housing to come back to the enterprise for laundry service. The second will have interaction residents getting back from the corrections system. The third will associate with native colleges to convey underprivileged households to the laundromat.
“There are just a few phrases that we dangle our hats on: dignity, pleasure and respect,” mentioned Tawana Bhagwat. “We hope to lift the usual right here inside the shopping center and even with our fellow retailer homeowners in how we deal with and respect the purchasers in the neighborhood.”
Thibault Manekin, associate at Seawall Growth, lent his actual property experience to the Bhagwats as they have been analyzing their lease phrases for the house. Manekin and Tawana Bhagwat served on the board of Related Black Charities collectively. When he realized of her plans for the enterprise, he fell in love with the imaginative and prescient.
“What separates Tawana from so many others is that she is as targeted on the monetary success of the enterprise as she is on the well-being of the neighborhood,” mentioned Manekin. “Tawana has the right mix of enterprise acumen and coronary heart that’s required to convey a enterprise like this to life.”
Because the Bhagwats will not be Baltimore natives, Manekin recommended their dedication to changing into a fixture in the neighborhood.
“Following Tawana and Roger’s imaginative and prescient for the venture, I hope that The Wash Zone has as a lot constructive influence on that a part of West Baltimore as they’ve got down to have,” mentioned Manekin. “I applaud them for his or her unwavering dedication to exhibiting up as a real neighbor and never a visitor. I’ve little doubt that they’ll succeed.”
Megan Sayles is a Report for America corps member.
