Today we’d like to introduce you to Antoine Vo.
Antoine, please share your story with us.
Our family has been in the laundry business since 1997. While already naturalized U.S. citizens, my parents were still a young immigrant family. My father was working as an auto mechanic and my mother was a homemaker. Our entrepreneurial mom, wanted to be more active and connected to the community. So, she started a small business. She gathered all the funds from the family savings with help from relatives and bought a small laundromat. This was the start of Le’s Laundry. This led us to grow up familiar to the laundromat business as well as how to manage a successful small business.
With years of experience we saw an opportunity to revive a central laundromat for the community of Everett. We found a long-closed laundromat that by all our knowledge, should be a thriving store. The place was visible, located on a busy street, and had a large surrounding population. Yet, the business was closed with rows of broken machines and the building was posted for sale. So, after contacting the owners and making a closer analysis, we bought the location and after a long renovation, we opened the laundromat in August 2016. And as we suspected, it is thriving.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Today Le’s Laundry is thriving and looking to improve every day. However, the journey to first open the store was difficult. There were reasons why the business was closed and was on sale. To even purchase the laundromat, we needed the involvement of attorneys, multiple engineers, and the city to resolve the long list of issues. And even after purchasing, we had a long task of repairing all the machines. After the completion of repairs and renovation, the water heater immediately broke, suddenly delaying us weeks. After months of setbacks, we finally opened for business in August 2016.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Le’s Laundry, we take pride to be a small family business that serve the local neighborhood. As a family, we keep the machines in good shape and do what we can to provide quality service. What sets us apart from the others is our desire to continuously improve ourselves. We do not see ourselves as the best laundromat, but we are always striving to become one.
What were you like growing up?
I would call myself a nerdy kid growing up. I was an honor student though not quite the top of the class. I spent my free time with my friends playing video games. Like any other childhood, it was not all smooth sailing. But my parents worked hard in making sure we have a good roof over our heads and food on the table, I have my friends, and mostly surrounded by a good set of teachers in a uniquely diverse high school.
Contact Info:
- Address: 302 Main Street
Everett, MA 02149 - Email: info@leslaundromat.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeslaundryandDC/
Image Credit:
Kevin Tang Photography – (except personal photo and the front desk door photo)
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