Cincinnati consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has launched a first-of-its-kind smart laundromat in Chicago under its Tide brand.
The maker of Tide laundry detergent (NYSE: PG) quietly opened its first Tide Laundromat in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood in December as part of a nationwide rollout of the brand. The facility is being touted as the first smart laundromat. It's owned by two Chicago brothers, Tony and Rich Kahan.
The laundromat is populated with smart washing machines that have all of the detergents and fabric softeners built in, so customers don't need to bring their own. All of the materials needed for each load of laundry are included in the price of the wash.
Consumers can select their preferred products, including Tide, Gain, Tide Free & Gentle and Downy, in scented and unscented versions, and the machine can sense the size of the load and add the proper amount of detergent and fabric softener. Loads can be washed and dried in as little as 35 minutes.
A companion mobile app allows users to check the availability of washing machines, make mobile payments and be notified when loads are complete, as well as offering loyalty rewards for repeat users.
The facility was constructed with Covid-19 in mind, with socially distant folding stations and sanitation cycles between loads in each machine. Employees of the Tide Laundromat regularly sanitize machines, counters and bathrooms.
The Tide Laundromat is an expansion of P&G's expansion of its Tide brand into the brick-and-mortar space. In 2010 it launched Tide Cleaners, a service to have clothes washed or dry cleaned.
Through Tide Cleaners, customers can place an order using its smartphone app and either drop off their clothes at a Tide Cleaners standalone store, drop boxes in urban locations like apartment buildings, lockers in retailers or even have it picked up by a service truck. There are currently 117 Tide Cleaners locations in the Cincinnati region, between six standalone stores, 10 public lockers and 101 drop boxes at private businesses.
Procter & Gamble is the creator and manufacturer of consumer brands like Always, Ariel, Bounty, Charmin, Dawn, Downy, Febreze, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Olay, Pampers and Tide. It is Cincinnati's second-largest public company by revenue, behind Kroger, reporting $67.68 billion in 2019 revenue, according to Courier research.
