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Salem business celebrates renovations

Photo courtesy of Salem Area Chamber of Commerce Salem Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors stand behind Tammy and Dale Menning, the owners of the Salem Laundry Room, as they celebrate their renovations with a ribbon cutting Tuesday. Pictured with the ambassadors, front from left, are Dale’s mom, Margaret Menning, Tammy’s mom, Mildred Bender, Tammy Menning, Dale Menning, and Dale’s dad, Tom Menning.

SALEM — Clean and safe — that’s what Salem Laundry Room owners Dale and Tammy Menning want people to remember when they visit their totally transformed business.

They’re celebrating the extensive renovations of the 24/7 self-serve laundry and car wash with an open house from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, offering a $1 wash at the laundry room and a $1 wash at the car wash next door, which they also own.

“Come up and check us out,” Dale urged community members.

Door prizes will be drawn throughout the day, culminating with the giveaway of a 40-inch television as the grand prize to be drawn at 3 p.m. The winner need not be present. There will be free food and drinks, too, while supplies last.

Located at 950 W. State St., the building has housed a laundromat since 1954 and had fallen into disrepair, needing some freshening up which the Mennings were more than happy to do when they purchased the business in 2018.

“We’ve touched almost every surface here,” Tammy said.

The list of improvements includes new doors, new windows, new siding, new roof, new floors, new vending machines, new soap dispensers, new folding tables, new carts, new wall coverings, new Electrolux washers and dryers and four new 60-pound capacity Electrolux washing machines that will take credit cards or coins and can fit six loads at once.

They also enlarged the bathroom, repaved and relined the parking lot and added LED security lights and security cameras allowing them to keep tabs on what’s happening in the laundry room. There’s also new air conditioning and a new furnace. A new change machine is on order and in the future, they’ll be replacing more of the outdated equipment.

Dale does all the maintenance himself and they’re on the premises at least once a day if not more. The laundry room is cleaned with disinfectant at least twice a day. Their goal was to make the laundry room a place where people wanted to come to do their laundry, a place where Tammy would go herself, a place where everybody could feel safe.

According to the Mennings, the reaction from customers to all the renovations has been favorable — they appreciate all the extra effort to keep it clean, secure and nice. Tammy even picks flowers from her garden and places them around to make the place homey.

“We appreciate our loyal customers and we appreciate people who are respectful,” she said.

Customers have been coming from all over the area, including Leetonia, Sebring, Alliance, New Waterford, even New Springfield, and of course, Salem.

The Mennings tried to keep the business open during the renovations because they said a lot of people rely on them for a place to do their laundry. They closed briefly when the floor was done, but that’s about it.

The cost to wash is $2.75 for a small washer, $4 for the medium and $6 for the large. The cost for a 30-pound capacity dryer is 25 cents for eight minutes. For the new 50-pound capacity dryer, which flips clothes for more even drying, the cost is 25 cents for six minutes.

The Mennings also made improvements to the car wash, which reopened two years ago, with all new vacuum hoses, all new gun nozzles, and two new air shammees to help dry cars.

Dale used to flip houses until COVID hit and was an electrician and mechanic. He was looking to get into rentals when he saw the laundromat was up for sale and he and Tammy took the leap.

“We just want to get people in the door to see what we’ve done,” he said.

mgreier@salemnews.net

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