Nearly $70,000 has been spent to revive Superwash's Gibbs Corner and West Avenue location to get it up and running, after that location experienced an early morning fire.
The blaze destroyed the building's roof two months ago. However, the company's president, Dionisio D'Aguilar, said the store was operational weeks after the fire.
"In that time, the damaged roof was repaired. It's not in the best condition but it's enough to hold us for another year. Our intention is to demolish that building, which was constructed in 1969," he shared. "We spent approximately $60,000 to $70,000 in repairs, as only the roof burnt. It was just a matter of getting a roof repaired."
Meanwhile, D'Aguilar confirmed to Guardian Business that the laundromat chain is beginning to experience an upswing in sales in 2012, in comparison to the last two years.
He noted that much of his business is based on weather, and not on the economy.
"If we were to go back over a five-year period, 2007 and 2008 were great years, 2009 and 2010 were definitely years of decline. 2011 was flat," D'Aguilar shared. "However, in 2012 we started to see a slight upswing in sales. We are weather-related business. While January to April was flat, with all of the rain that we had in May, that definitely has led to a healthy increase."
Superwash's president told Guardian Business that plans for the new 4,000 square foot Superwash are still in the design and approval stages, but scheduled to be completed within a year's time.
The new location is expected to be completed within the next 12 months and will cost the local laundromat $1 million to construct. He added that the outlet will feature all new equipment.
"We decided to build an entirely new location on the adjacent property and demolish this existing one. Once the new location has been completed, we are demolishing the existing one and [will] use that space for parking," according to D'Aguilar.
He admitted that there is a lot of underground work that accompanies the construction of a laundromat.
"There is a lot that has to be done in the ground in order to build a laundromat. We have to build a water storage in the ground underneath the building before it can rise up. We can commence some of that work now. It should be up and running within a year's time," D'Aguilar added.

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