Is there much money in Dry Cleaning?
Discussion
Perhaps a slightly odd observation but last week I was in London for a day and had several hours to kill so did a lot of wandering about Central London on foot.
There seem to be loads of Dry Cleaners in Central London, which struck me as odd as I'm assuming that rent is a small fortune.
Perhaps I'm being naive and the sheer quantity of people means there is a lot of trade?
It just seemed an odd thing to see so many of in a city centre.
There seem to be loads of Dry Cleaners in Central London, which struck me as odd as I'm assuming that rent is a small fortune.
Perhaps I'm being naive and the sheer quantity of people means there is a lot of trade?
It just seemed an odd thing to see so many of in a city centre.
A mate of mine was at one time a black cabbie in London. Talk about a cash business. He told me that the revenue employed something like ten people who solely did the cab trade & consequently when you scale up the tax returns from several thousand drivers, they get a pretty good idea of what one earns over a year.
Much like the electrickery companies, who look at a whole street & work out that the one house paying 30% less than all the others is the one with the magnet in the meter, so I doubt the dry cleaning biz is a fantastic opportunity for squiring lots of cash away.
One thing that does go on with cash busineses is short changing. My old man once came close to buying a newsagent & the owner told him that fully 5% of his profit came from doing that, working to the worst of human nature, paerticularly on your own doorstep, but that was what he reckoned.
Much like the electrickery companies, who look at a whole street & work out that the one house paying 30% less than all the others is the one with the magnet in the meter, so I doubt the dry cleaning biz is a fantastic opportunity for squiring lots of cash away.
One thing that does go on with cash busineses is short changing. My old man once came close to buying a newsagent & the owner told him that fully 5% of his profit came from doing that, working to the worst of human nature, paerticularly on your own doorstep, but that was what he reckoned.
Well as a person that a) lives in London and b) uses a dry cleaner a lot I can see that it's a decent business....as others have said it's all about volumes...you've got fixed costs and you need to get punters through the door.
I am sure plenty of them justify themselves as a decent business without the "tax" angle.
I am sure plenty of them justify themselves as a decent business without the "tax" angle.
As an aspirant high profit business of course, its flawed. Barriers to entry are very low (so low even I could enter!), so in the main it will be who charges the lowest (notwithstanding the earlier comment about punters not wishing to travel) who wins. Remember, to be successful (profit) in business, provide what is scarce.
To be fair, I have no idea about dry cleaners in London. I travel from Glasgow regularly on business but always take enough clothes...that said- I can see the value of using them.
Looking at a dry cleaning business in an entirely different light. I stay in a town just outside Glasgow. Large town with maybe 70,000 people. Plenty of folk who require regular dry cleaning- Including myself.
Only 18 months ago did the first actual on premise dry cleaning shop open. I had the idea for ages as I really wanted somewhere that could do it that day if required.
the result- not long after I thought about doing something about it...a shop opened.
Business seems to be booming. A very professional, clean set up. I can think of seeing around 7 members of staff.
I spend around £30 per month cleaning suits. I reckon it turns over a decent profit.
Looking at a dry cleaning business in an entirely different light. I stay in a town just outside Glasgow. Large town with maybe 70,000 people. Plenty of folk who require regular dry cleaning- Including myself.
Only 18 months ago did the first actual on premise dry cleaning shop open. I had the idea for ages as I really wanted somewhere that could do it that day if required.
the result- not long after I thought about doing something about it...a shop opened.
Business seems to be booming. A very professional, clean set up. I can think of seeing around 7 members of staff.
I spend around £30 per month cleaning suits. I reckon it turns over a decent profit.
Rents high
Energy use high
Depreciation of the kit ? Don't know how much that costs
Business rates
Salaries - min wage jobs really so low
Hangers bags and tickets
Any solution they use in the process?
Surely those are all the costs of a dry cleaning operation.
What else can they add into the service?
Ironing of shirts? Oh yea £3 per shirt
End of the day it's a volume business and will only make money if say capacity is running above x% - and of course the pricing is not stupidly cheap.
Also once you win the trade of a company provided you don't feck up and do a good job that will be a constant stream of business
In fact the way for it to work is to gain say 85% of your capacity from this regular trade from companies then you will have drop ins. Or you could be stricty exclusive.
Or of course you could be smart just have the selling of the service and have Bulk discounts at big dry cleaners. You sell at Market rate and you make a margin on the going rate. Risk to you? Um tiny.
That's the smart more as there has to e plenty of capacity in the Market so why scale yourself with premesis debt operating costs when intact you don't need any of that.
Remember the simplest business you can have is being an author. All you need is a pencil and paper - if it doesn't work out how much have you invested? Yep bugger all.
Or say cleaning cars you have sponges buckets cleaning solutions etc so more spend but really small none the less and if it flops you have the kit to use yourself.
Or gardening - you may already have all the equipment or if you have to buy a good petrol lawn mower well its £250 and if it fails you still have it after business goes pop.
Low set up costs with a service which people need at a reasonable price and a good job your onto a winner. Simples.
You don't need to invent the next best thing since sliced bread
Energy use high
Depreciation of the kit ? Don't know how much that costs
Business rates
Salaries - min wage jobs really so low
Hangers bags and tickets
Any solution they use in the process?
Surely those are all the costs of a dry cleaning operation.
What else can they add into the service?
Ironing of shirts? Oh yea £3 per shirt
End of the day it's a volume business and will only make money if say capacity is running above x% - and of course the pricing is not stupidly cheap.
Also once you win the trade of a company provided you don't feck up and do a good job that will be a constant stream of business
In fact the way for it to work is to gain say 85% of your capacity from this regular trade from companies then you will have drop ins. Or you could be stricty exclusive.
Or of course you could be smart just have the selling of the service and have Bulk discounts at big dry cleaners. You sell at Market rate and you make a margin on the going rate. Risk to you? Um tiny.
That's the smart more as there has to e plenty of capacity in the Market so why scale yourself with premesis debt operating costs when intact you don't need any of that.
Remember the simplest business you can have is being an author. All you need is a pencil and paper - if it doesn't work out how much have you invested? Yep bugger all.
Or say cleaning cars you have sponges buckets cleaning solutions etc so more spend but really small none the less and if it flops you have the kit to use yourself.
Or gardening - you may already have all the equipment or if you have to buy a good petrol lawn mower well its £250 and if it fails you still have it after business goes pop.
Low set up costs with a service which people need at a reasonable price and a good job your onto a winner. Simples.
You don't need to invent the next best thing since sliced bread
Welshbeef said:
Or of course you could be smart just have the selling of the service and have Bulk discounts at big dry cleaners. You sell at Market rate and you make a margin on the going rate. Risk to you? Um tiny.
That's the smart more as there has to e plenty of capacity in the Market so why scale yourself with premesis debt operating costs when intact you don't need any of that.
I used to take my shirts to a cobblers near my flat who did this. The shirts were sent away to some huge laundry and came back 2 days later. His risk on this part of his business was nil and I suppose it helped support the other side of his offering.That's the smart more as there has to e plenty of capacity in the Market so why scale yourself with premesis debt operating costs when intact you don't need any of that.
Used to own 2-3 at one point.
MAjor problem is that out of central cities no one actually WANTS to use a dry cleaners- they use them because they have to. On top, most people can't tell a well laundered suit from a bad, and so it all comes down to pricing, and thus volume.....
frankly didn't enjoy being in the business,
MAjor problem is that out of central cities no one actually WANTS to use a dry cleaners- they use them because they have to. On top, most people can't tell a well laundered suit from a bad, and so it all comes down to pricing, and thus volume.....
frankly didn't enjoy being in the business,
rog007 said:
As an aspirant high profit business of course, its flawed. Barriers to entry are very low (so low even I could enter!), so in the main it will be who charges the lowest (notwithstanding the earlier comment about punters not wishing to travel) who wins. Remember, to be successful (profit) in business, provide what is scarce.
Disagree a bit there....not all dry cleaners are born equal. The one I use has got some special machine for doing shirts which means they just wear that much better during the day.....I got the hump the other day when the Mrs used another dry cleaner....shirts were nowhere near as good. I asked the bloke about it...said customers had noticed the improved quality since he got the machine and they are much busier.
Cheib said:
rog007 said:
As an aspirant high profit business of course, its flawed. Barriers to entry are very low (so low even I could enter!), so in the main it will be who charges the lowest (notwithstanding the earlier comment about punters not wishing to travel) who wins. Remember, to be successful (profit) in business, provide what is scarce.
Disagree a bit there....not all dry cleaners are born equal. The one I use has got some special machine for doing shirts which means they just wear that much better during the day.....I got the hump the other day when the Mrs used another dry cleaner....shirts were nowhere near as good. I asked the bloke about it...said customers had noticed the improved quality since he got the machine and they are much busier.
Eric Mc said:
So THATS why they atre referred to as "Laundries".
Yes. Started in the US I think when gangsters used to use laundries to process the proceeds of crime, which then emerged clean. Cleaned via a laundry, very droll.I used to know a dry cleaner in Birmingham who had engaged in a bit of vertical integration. He was selling drugs from his dry cleaning shops. Whilst high risk, the through-flow of customers didn't look suspicious and it was all cash. Neither part of his business had good customer retention due to quality control issues.
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