Wifi Comes to Laundromat

Because I’m cheap I’ll walk an extra two blocks to the laundromat further from my house if I have a lot of laundry and need to use the big washers.  Fortunately this doesn’t happen often.  However, on Saturday I found myself making my way, in my last pair of clean underwear, through buckets of rain, to the laundromat to do some much needed laundry.  As I approached the front door I noticed a sign that read, “we have Wi-Fi.”  This was somewhat surprising as nothing else about the laundromat suggests that it would have wireless internet capabilities.  No new stainless steel washers and dryers.  No modish sculpted plastic chairs to sit in while you wait.  Nothing like that at all.  Sure enough, though, the sign was telling the truth.  Shirking the copies of the Carribean News next to the bench several young people, presumably Pratt students, engrossed themselves in their laptops while a red t shirt spun and flipped end over end in the dryer.

Anything you can do to differentiate yourself from the other guy with coin operated washers and dryers is probably a good thing.  On the Ohio State University campus, just a few blocks from where I grew up, there is a laundromat that also has a bar and serves pizza.  Which makes more sense in some ways; don’t you have enough to carry to the laundromat already?  Do you really want to bring a laptop too?

While there is no denying that wired is the way of the future it is somewhat surprising that a laundromat in Clinton Hill is leading the charge.  Despite the surprise and whether or not it is in my opinion a worthwhile addition to a laundromat to have Wifi it is nice to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well in Clinton Hill.