By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com
After several years of a former laundromat sitting vacant in Walbrook Junction, Tawana and Roger Bhagwat are bringing laundry service back to the West Baltimore shopping center. The husband and wife team are preparing to open The Wash Zone, a coinless laundry facility, this spring.
For the Bhagwats, the business is more than a means to generate income, it’s an initiative to bring resources to a community that’s suffered from long-term disinvestment.
“This is more to us than just making money. This is truly about providing a necessity to our community but doing it at another level,” said Tawana Bhagwat. “Our motto is, ‘Experience clean differently.’ We want this place to be a place where there is a standard—a place that has modern technology, is clean and a place where our people feel welcome.”
Opening up a laundromat was always a bucket-list item for the Bhagwats. Each has had experience as entrepreneurs. Roger Bhagwat previously ran a body shop, while Tawana Bhagwat operates the human resources consulting firm Organization At Its Best.
When they learned that Chicago Trend, a commercial development company led by Lyneir Richardson, purchased Walbrook Junction and was looking for a new laundry operator, they seized the opportunity.
Convenience and technology were two priorities for the Bhagwats when devising the concept for The Wash Zone.
“Customers can drop their clothes off and get alerted when they’re ready to be picked up. We’re also contracting through Uber, Lyft and Doordash to do pick-ups and drop-offs for the wash and fold service to make it more convenient,” said Roger Bhagwat. “There’s no need for coin pouches, we use a card system.”
The laundromat enables customers to load laundry cards with debit and electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards and mobile payment services, like Cash App and Apple Pay.
The Bhagwats have also created three initiatives to support the surrounding community: Start Fresh, Start Clean and Start Bright. The first will welcome women and men living in transitional housing to come to the business for laundry service. The second will engage citizens returning from the corrections system. The third will partner with local schools to bring underprivileged families to the laundromat.
“There are a few words that we hang our hats on: dignity, pride and respect,” said Tawana Bhagwat. “We are hoping to raise the standard here within the shopping mall and even with our fellow store owners in how we treat and respect the customers in the community.”
Thibault Manekin, partner at Seawall Development, lent his real estate expertise to the Bhagwats as they were examining their lease terms for the space. Manekin and Tawana Bhagwat served on the board of Associated Black Charities together. When he learned of her plans for the business, he fell in love with the vision.
“What separates Tawana from so many others is that she is as focused on the financial success of the business as she is on the well-being of the community,” said Manekin. “Tawana has the perfect blend of business acumen and heart that is required to bring a venture like this to life.”
As the Bhagwats are not Baltimore natives, Manekin commended their commitment to becoming a fixture in the community.
“Following Tawana and Roger’s vision for the project, I hope that The Wash Zone has as much positive impact on that part of West Baltimore as they have set out to have,” said Manekin. “I applaud them for their unwavering commitment to showing up as a true neighbor and not a guest. I have no doubt that they will succeed.”
Megan Sayles is a Report for America corps member.
