Sara Stadem | Editor
The Hartford community heads into 2022 with the Hartford Laundromat having a new owner. Tom Ollerich, owner of Ollerich Cattle Company, Inc., has decided to expand his business opportunities by investing in the Hartford Laundromat, according to Ollerich.
The former owner, Lee Anigge, informed Ollerich that the laundromat was up for sale and determined the change was needed. “I just like investing and I knew the community needed it.” He continued, “Matt LeBrun (from Pierre) that owns the mini-mall where the laundromat is located explained to me that there was a lot of negative talk on Hartford Happenings on Facebook. There were some bad reviews with how it looked and how it was kept.”
Ollerich took ownership of the laundromat at the beginning of December, 2021, and immediately went full steam ahead on improvements. Ollerich explained, “We got it all cleaned up with new paint. There is also a new coin machine in it and new locks are going in on the door now as we speak.”
He further explained that he got a state-of-the-art security system with cameras put in so customers feel safer going to the laundromat. Ollerich has also been working on getting all of the machines operating. “We are getting all of the machines going again so there will be no “out of orders” anymore,” Ollerich said. In addition to getting the appliances functioning again, Ollerich has had all of the insides of the machines cleaned with cleaner as well.
Currently there are 17 washers and 14 dryers in the laundromat, some machines being smaller for those lighter loads, along with five commercial machines for the larger loads that people need to do, according to Ollerich.
The laundromat will have a timed lock on it in order for there to be set hours of 6 am to 10 pm, seven days a week. Currently, the cost for the loads are $5 per load for the small commercial washing machines and $6.50 per load for the large commercial washing machines, regular washing machines are $2.50 per load and all dryers are $.50 per load and there is a detergent machine available to customers.
Laundromat customer Buffey Edberg explained she goes to the laundromat for her bedding, rugs, blankets and quilts. She spoke about the improvements and said, “Well, it’s newly painted and it’s so much cleaner.” She continued, “There are probably only two washing machines that are out of order right now and one dryer. It used to be a lot more than that. It’s just very clean and they are going to have a change box in there as well.”
Edberg added, “I think the safety and security will work better with it being opened at a certain time and closed at a certain time. Fred’s Lock and Key was there working when I was in there.”
The final touches to the laundromat will include Ollerich adding a T.V. and art work. “I’m having western murals made with kids riding horses and there will be two murals of the racecars that I sponsor, Brandon Jurrens and Dan Jensen,” Ollerich said.
Ollerich concluded, “Mainly, I did this to help the community as I know there are a lot of people that travel from Salem and Humboldt to go to the laundromat. It’s mainly for the community.”
While at the laundromat, if something needs to be looked at or something is stolen, damaged, etc., Ollerich said to stop by his office, Ollerich Cattle Company, Inc., which is located in the strip mall in Suite K.