Operation Laundry Chapter 3: It’s Open

Tim Johnson finally opened the doors on his destination laundromat in Holland, Michigan. Six weeks in, he’s collected more than 360 five-star reviews, flooded the building twice and learned that no sign, however clearly posted, guarantees a customer will read it.

22 Jul, 2026 6 min read

Operation Laundry Chapter 3: It’s Open

Tim Johnson finally opened the doors on his destination laundromat in Holland, Michigan. Six weeks in, he’s collected more than 360 five-star reviews, flooded the building twice and learned that no sign, however clearly posted, guarantees a customer will read it.

Host Matt DeWolf checked back in with Tim Johnson for the third installment of Full Cycle’s series following Operation Laundry, picking up the story after opening day. The first two episodes covered Johnson’s decision to leverage his 401(k) to fund the project and the community-building and staffing work that followed. This conversation covers what happened once the machines actually started running.

Operation Laundry opened June 1, about a month behind Johnson’s original May target. Construction took 90 days, following a 50-day demolition Johnson handled himself. He called opening day exciting even with the delay.

“We could’ve occupied a couple weeks earlier, but getting everything finalized, June 1st we opened for business and had our first customer, which was really exciting,” Johnson said.

A Fast Start With the Community

Johnson said the response from Holland has been overwhelming. Operation Laundry has collected more than 360 five-star reviews in five or six weeks, a pace he believes is unmatched by any other laundromat in the country.

“Everybody wants to be part of Operation Laundry once they get inside and they see that we’re doing something different, and they tell their friends, they leave a review,” Johnson said.

He credits the reviews to direct relationships with customers rather than any marketing tactic. He talks with nearly everyone who comes through the door, tells them his story and walks some through the process of leaving a review, including customers who need help with the technology.

“I talk to every customer and I tell them my story, I tell them who I am, I tell them what I’ve done, and they want to get behind that,” Johnson said.

Losing Money While Staffing Down

Johnson was direct about the financial reality of the early weeks. Operation Laundry is losing money every day, and Johnson has trimmed staff not for performance reasons but because the business cannot yet support them.

“That’s the one cost I can control is labor,” Johnson said. “The other costs like taxes, energy, the building mortgage, the loan, all those things I can’t control.”

He is down to one employee working about two hours a day, with Johnson covering the rest of the hours himself, in person or remotely through the store’s camera system.

Asked how he stays motivated through that stretch, Johnson pointed to his time at the Air Force Academy.

“What that taught me was, at the end of the day, you’re gonna give it everything you got, you’re gonna be tired, and you’re gonna lay your head down at bed and go to sleep and get up the next day and do it again,” Johnson said.

What Nobody Warned Him About

Much of the conversation centered on the surprises of running a laundromat day to day. Johnson said customers routinely ignore posted signage, from no-smoking signs to shoe requirements, and that older customers in particular have shown a strong aversion to the store’s card and app-based payment system.

“Turns out people don’t read,” Johnson said, describing customers who continue past posted warnings without slowing down. He also described a passerby who fell into a wet concrete pour during construction and returned uninjured but caked in cement after ignoring advice to shower immediately.

Other incidents included a customer riding an electric scooter through the building, a propane tank brought inside and people trying to stay past the store’s 9 p.m. locking time. Johnson said he has had to trespass a small number of customers and works with local police to manage disruptions.

The most costly surprise came from equipment, not customers. Operation Laundry flooded twice in its first weeks after bulkheads were ordered and delivered in the wrong size, creating pressure that forced water out behind the washers. The first flood, on Memorial Day, covered the entire building six inches deep before Johnson had even opened for business.

“That’s how I found out about that on Memorial Day,” Johnson said, describing a call from a passerby who noticed water inside the store.

Since then, Johnson has installed shutoff valves at every bulkhead, remote water controls he can operate from his phone and floor sensors that text him if a leak starts. Both fixes have held.

“So you need to have shutoff valves at every bulkhead,” Johnson said. “We haven’t had any floods since then.”

Building Toward Profitability

Johnson said self-serve washing is expected to roughly break even on its own. Turning a profit will depend on building commercial accounts and wash-and-fold service, an effort he is running largely by himself through cold calls and community outreach.

“That’s really truly how we’re gonna be able to make this thing work, is the self-serve is just kind of break even,” Johnson said. “We need to get commercial accounts and wash and fold to be able to kind of generate some profit.”

He acknowledged the sales cycle for commercial contracts is slow and said patience, not any single tactic, is what keeps leads warm.

“I have to be patient, consistent, follow up, be professional, and just stay on top of and get the word out,” Johnson said.

Taking Action

Asked for one habit that could make tomorrow better, Johnson pointed to a piece of advice he traces to a college football coach who reached out after hearing Johnson’s story: the value of simply continuing to take action, even when the payoff is not yet visible.

“Every day I get up, I get a little closer to getting a commercial contract,” Johnson said. “Get out there and take action. That’s what I’d recommend.”

Operation Laundry Chapter 3: It’s Open

Operation Laundry Chapter 3: It’s Open

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