Lighten Your Load at the Tuscola Laundromat

By Kayleigh Rahn
The Tuscola community has a new place to help lighten their loads with a new bright spot in the Tuscola Laundromat.

John and Julie Kennedy purchased the laundromat, located at 201 S. Main St., June 4, and the couple has been hard at work overhauling the space into fresh, clean work area for area residents to tackle their laundry.

John and Julie, who were raised in town and were high school sweethearts, raised their four children in Tuscola and became empty nesters following last school year.

“We thought this was a great opportunity to become business entrepreneurs but have a community feel,” she said. “We remember coming here as kids, and it was really nice. This gave us a chance to give back to the community a little bit.”

When the Kennedys took over about five to six washing machines 18 dryers were functioning, with a bit of elbow grease, they’ve repaired many machines and are now up to about 20 washers and 23 dryers working on site.

Over the past four months, the family has repaired the leaking roof, replaced the ceiling and lighting, painted the interior walls white for a fresh look, stripped and waxed the terrazzo floors, replaced base boards, and began painting the exterior. They also worked to sand rust off the older machines and repainted in bright colors.

“People who come in on a regular basis say, ‘Wow! This is really nice,’” Julie said. “Everyone has been really appreciative. We see a wide variety of patrons. We have people who come in weekly to do their laundry and others who come in when they get behind then come in to get caught up, so they can do several loads at once. Others come in just to do comforters.”

Overall, the rehabilitation of the building has remained on track, though they have their sites on big projects in the future including a bathroom renovation and workroom improvements.

“Keeping the washers and dryers is a big, full time job,” she said. “They are older and they weren’t fixed right off the bat, so now that we’re fixing them we want to keep them running.”

The full story can be found in the Wednesday, Oct. 10 edition of The Tuscola Journal.