Locker-Based Laundry Biz Coming Soon to RVC

Call it the ATM of laundry service.

Lockers4Laundry, a 24/7 dry clean and wash-and-fold business, opened its doors in Long Beach last week, and its second Long Island location will debut next month in Rockville Centre. The swipe-card and locker-based service allows customers to drop and pick up their laundry and shoes at any time.

“We bring convenience to our clients,” owner Lisa Nohs said of Lockers4Laundry, calling the business the first of its kind on Long Island.

Customers gain access to the storefront kiosk, which will be located at 270-A. Merrick Rd., by first registering their credit card on the company’s website and swiping the card to unlock the front door, which is under 24-hour surveillance. 

Lockers4Laundry has three means to place an order: via smartphones or an iPad mounted in the store; by texting Locker4Laundry with the number of the locker where they leave their garments; or using the app of the store’s software provider, DropLocker. Customers who drop off clothes enter any four-digit code to lock the locker.

Lockers4Laundry outsources the dry cleaning and wash to a company in Island Park, and the items are returned within 24 hours. Lockers4Laundry attaches a barcode to each dry-cleaned item for tracking.

“Everything is real time,” Nohs said. “As soon as a driver picks up [the laundry to take to Island Park], it relays a message automatically to a system and informs the client that their bag has been picked up, so they’re updated from the point of pick up to the point of delivery.”

Once clients' laundry is cleaned and returned to the kiosk, they receive an email and a text notifying them that their laundry is ready for pickup, as well as their new locker number and four-digit pin code. Each returned bag bears the customer’s name and a barcode.

Billed as a “green cleaner,” Lockers4Laundry provides first-time customers with reusable bags. Customers pay per piece for dry cleaning and per pound for wash-and-fold items.

Nohs said the business is the first of its kind on Long Island. 

“Our partners are the only ones offering this kind of locker-based system,” she said of DropLocker.

Nohs had been searching for a startup business but never found one that she really wanted to invest in until her husband discovered LaundryLocker, a company that employs similar technology at 800 locations across San Francisco. They plan on opening more locations across Long Island.

“We’re gearing more toward the north shore and then eventually we’ll go to Suffolk County,” she said. “And we’re also planning on expanding into Queens.”