Downtown Pocatello laundromat receives beautification award amid first anniversary celebration

POCATELLO — A local laundromat has reached its first anniversary in business, and the owners have ideas for how they want to make things even better going forward.

Peggy Welsh, one of the owners of The Laundry Barn, located at 923 N. Arthur Ave., said they had a one year anniversary celebration earlier this month with the Chamber of Commerce and other community members.

"The Chamber awarded us with the beautification award for beautifying an old town building," she said.

Business was a little slow at first, but eventually more customers started bringing their laundry needs to the barn and the business grew. Many people found them online through social media.

"Word of mouth helped more than anything," Welsh said. "A lot of people with lack of transportation can easily access us."

The Laundry Barn is open during all hours of the day. Customers can come and do their laundry as early as 6 a.m. or later at night. They have cameras around the building to make it a little safer.

"Those have helped us help customers feel safe and secure, especially when they're doing laundry late at night."

Welsh said her favorite part about operating The Laundry Barn has been getting to meet all of her customers and getting to know them.

"There's a lot of people traveling from all over the country that we've met," she said. "We've met people down on hard times who we've been able to get to know."

Welsh has been able to help people in more ways than just providing an essential routine service of laundry care. She helped one customer who had just been released from prison to apply for a job.

"It's been amazing to get to know people who just need a little help," she said. "They might not look like someone you would want to befriend, but they have such good hearts."

During their first year in business, the owners of The Laundry Barn also purchased Sunbright Laundromat that they will use as a second location.

"We've been getting that building up to code," Welsh said. "It's pretty run down. We've changed things here and there."

One of the services that The Laundry Barn offers that isn't offered anywhere else in Pocatello is their wash and fold services. This is where they wash, dry and fold laundry for their customers. They can even pick up and deliver the loads for customers who use this service.

"We have a lot of customers that use us weekly," Welsh said. "We'll pick up and deliver and mark that off for them."

Welsh said another service The Laundry Barn hopes to start doing is a Bengal Wash Day. They hope to have these events on Wednesdays in coordination with Idaho State University's celebration of the day each week.

"The public can come and show their Bengal Pride and get a discount and some snacks and drinks," she said.

More information can be found on the barn's website, idaholaundrybarn.com .