I will never again go to any other laundromat. Until I found Soap Bar, I had been going round supermarkets and bottle shops like a hobo begging for them to exchange notes for $1 coins and pretending not to notice 'DO NOT ASK FOR CHANGE FOR LAUNDROMAT AS REFUSAL MAY OFFEND'.
Sometimes the manager at IGA would help out a brother with some coin because I regularly do the family shopping there. But he would tsk tsk and remark that the laundromat should get their own change machine.
Once I got enough coins, I would try to negotiate the faulty coin collectors at the laundromat (some machines only took $1s, others only $2s -- but for some reason the lady who owned the place never put up any signs labeling which was which. I think she might have made a tidy side business in stuck coins.)
Once my clothes were washed I'd sometimes be pulling them out of the machine only to find my hands coated in sticky soap paste -- yep, that's right, the machine washed so poorly it didn't even move the soap from its original point of deposit into the clothes. Words similar to 'sit' and 'puck' would be muttered under my breath. Of course there was nowhere to rinse your hands.
Then I found Soap Bar. The machines are not only cheaper than the rubbish laundromat ($3 per load -- Though the smallest machines are double load, so $6 minimum investment), the equipment is all brand new. And the owners care about graphic design and ambience: the massive mirrored chrome '50s-style 'automatic' sign is a beauty to behold.
AND THERE IS A FRICKING CHANGE MACHINE THAT WORKS!! And, even more amazingly, should you not have come even packing notes, there is an ATM. And EVEN more amazingly, if you are totes gen-Y or Z or whatever we're up to now, you can pay for the machines with Paypal. FRICKIN PAYPAL. The machines are all IP, baby.
Oh. And there is an air hockey table. And Jenga blocks to play with if they are your thing.
There is an 'honesty bar' of soap powder you can scoop out at will for a coin drop of $1 -- no fixed (or policed, anyway) quantity.
AND THERE IS FREE WIFI SO YOU CAN NETFLIX AND CHILL* WHILE YOUR WASHING IS GOING WITHOUT BLOWING YOUR DATA PLAN. * Chill in yr he strictly platonic laundromatic plain English sense
And there is a sign up indicating that a waffle and coffee cafe will be coming soon at the front of the laundromat.
And there is a TAP and a HAND DRYER for those soap exposure moments. Never. Going. Anywhere. Else. read more
