The Laundromat Giving Tulsa a Fresh Start

Brandon Andres Green, host of Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa, sits down with Naomi Eason of Fresh Start Laundry to talk about the Tulsa and Broken Arrow laundromat doing far more than washing clothes.

Naomi shares how Fresh Start Laundry serves everyday families, residential pickup-and-delivery customers, and commercial clients like hotels, spas, and medical clinics. With two locations, long operating hours, and one store running close to 100 machines, she explains why the “easy laundromat business” idea is a myth.

But the heart of this conversation is the meaning behind the name Fresh Start. Naomi talks about helping people in the community who are working through addiction, court situations, homelessness, housing needs, and the hard steps that come with rebuilding a life.

You’ll also hear why laundromats can become unexpected neighborhood anchors. Customers return to the same machines, at the same times, around the same people, and over time a simple errand can become a place of familiarity, trust, and connection.

If you need self-service laundry, drop-off service, pickup and delivery, or commercial laundry support, Fresh Start Laundry is serving Tulsa and Broken Arrow with clean clothes and a much bigger mission.

Because sometimes a fresh start begins with a load of laundry.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Brandon Andris Green.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast

Services And Hours Explained

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Live. Are you looking for a clean, friendly laundry map that also offers pickup and delivery? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Naomi Eason, with Fresh Start Laundry. Naomi, how's it going?

SPEAKER_01 0:33

It's going good. Happy to be here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Oh, you're so welcome. We're excited to learn all about you, Fresh Start Laundry, and how you're trying to make such a difference in our community. Will you tell us a little bit about Fresh Start Laundry and your self-service pickup and delivery options that you offer?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Well, um, so we have a lot of people, we have people that come in and do their own laundry that do self-service, of course. And then um, and so we're we do that from seven in the morning until about 10:30 at night. And then um our pickup and delivery service, we do anything from picking up and delivering for uh residential customers to um hotels. Um, we do you know, commercial laundry for uh places that like spas, uh medical clinics, hotels, uh their bedding, their towels, that type of thing.

How Fresh Start Laundry Began

SPEAKER_02 1:34

So, how did you get into this type of business in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Oh my goodness. There was a lot of pieces to that puzzle, but I had worked in the community. I have two locations. I have one in Tulsa, one in Broken Arrow. So my first intro into it was the Tulsa location, and I had worked in that community for quite a while with families on a weekly basis, and really did have a desire to be there more present to be a to try to make a bigger impact there. And just out of the blue, one of my um subcontractors messaged me and said, Hey, there's this laundromat for sale on Marketplace, you ought to check it out. And it was right in the middle of that community. I could not believe it. And it just all the pieces fell into place over the next couple of months, and we opened for business on January 1st, 2020.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Wow. Well, what would you say is the common misconception people have about laundromats or pickup and delivery laundry service?

Laundromat Myths And Real Work

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Um, well, I think one of the biggest misconceptions about being in the laundromat business is that it's easy, turnkey. You walk in, turn it all on, and walk out, and it takes care of itself. And that's definitely not the not the situation there. Um, one of my locations has right at 100 machines. So you can imagine that there's a lot of mechanics involved in keeping that all flowing smoothly. And then the other one has about 40 machines. So it's uh that's one big misconception that the laundromat business is just uh takes care of itself. It definitely doesn't, but it's a lot of fun. Another thing is people don't realize how much community you have within a laundromat. Everybody gets to know each other, everybody comes at the same time pretty much every week or every day, uses the same machines. It's a lot of fun.

Residential Vs Commercial Rush Jobs

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Who are the people you most often serve? Like from neighborhood families to residential and commercial pickup customers.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Um, well the residential part is a huge part of it, but the commercial side for me is becoming a large part as well at this point. So um I love I love my commercial my residential customers that we develop relationships. That's probably one of my favorite parts of it. But I also enjoy the challenges that come with a hotel calling you and saying, Hey, we're in a mess. Can you come help us out? We got a thousand pounds of laundry, we need to turn over by tomorrow. Our washers are down, whatever. That's fun to me too. I enjoy the challenge of that.

Finding Fresh Start Laundry Online

SPEAKER_02 4:34

How do people usually find you?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Um, my website, freshstartlaundry.com. They also find us on Google or um, I don't know. I've a lot of word word by mouth. We we have a lot of people say they've just heard a lot of good things and want to come check us out.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

What's one thing, Naomi, you want listeners to

Fresh Start Mission Beyond Laundry

SPEAKER_02 5:00

remember about Fresh Start Laundry and the difference you try to make in our community?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Um, well, the name Fresh Start Laundry, uh, my son came up with that because he, you know, the thing about Fresh Start Laundry, we're not just a laundromat, but we also I take people to rehab from the community. So they come to me if they want to get off drugs or alcohol. Um, I take them and just help them with maybe they're trying to work through a court situation, they're trying to get into an apartment, they're dealing with homelessness or um just a lot of different things. Fresh start is not just a fresh start to your clothes, a fresh start to your week, but we also try to make a difference in people's lives that maybe need a fresh start in their life. So, really that's what I care about the most about my laundromat.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

That's incredible.

Contact Info And Nominate A Business

SPEAKER_02 5:54

And how can listeners learn more about fresh start laundry? Maybe visit your laundromats and schedule pickup and delivery.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Um, they can call 918-951-0499, or they can uh go to our website, freshstartlaundry.com. There's a link there for that. Um, they can also drop off their clothes at any time. We take them seven days a week.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Well, Naomi, I really appreciate you being on this show. We wish you and Fresh Start Laundry the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Thank you. I appreciate you having me.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Bye bye. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptulsa.com. That's gmptulsa.com or call 918 301 6356.