91原创

Dave Nonen is spot-on in his 颅letter 鈥淪upport your local laundromat,鈥� published May 13.

But there鈥檚 much more to the story. With the loss of 颅LaundroLounge at Cook and Yates streeets, downtown Victoria faces losing its last provider of a service that has helped to protect 颅people鈥檚 health and welfare during COVID-19 and for decades before.

Back at the start of the 颅pandemic, the provincial government declared public laundromats to be an essential service, along with the grocery stores and drug stores that remained open during our initial lockdown.

They help to curb the spread of infectious diseases by providing clean clothes, bedding and towels. Never has that been more important than during a pandemic. And never have there been fewer coin-operated laundromats in recent history.

Laundromats have been 颅staples in 91原创 communities for 60 years, but due to a variety of pressures, their numbers are shrinking across the country.

At the laundromat 颅industry鈥檚 height over the past two decades, Canada had 1,784 coin-operated laundries and dry cleaners in 2004 (Statistics Canada lumps these two kinds of 颅businesses together; many offer both services). In one year alone, 66聽closed, leaving just 1,205 in 2019.

In central Victoria, three coin-ops have closed their doors in the past year. Now the writing on the board has been posted, literally, in front of the fourth. LaundroLounge, operating for 24 years, will be displaced by a 12-storey condominium tower.

This is good news for the future homeowners. It is not good news for hundreds more, many of low income, who use LaundroLounge every month; the closure will also leave in the lurch more than 50 commercial clients and many others who rely on the drop-off and pick-up service.

Owner Kerry Naber has operated the business for 11 years and would like to relocate it. However, a two-year search has been fruitless so far.

Coin-operated laundries are taken for granted by many until they need one, until their home appliances break, or they are travelling, or they rent an 颅apartment without a laundry room. Thousands of people in Victoria depend on them, as do medical and dental clinics, 颅physiotherapists, restaurants, massage therapists, B&Bs and other businesses, along with tourists, who support our local economy and will one day return.

When my own dryer died one winter, I headed to a laundromat for the first time in years. I walked out of that overheated, noisy, perfumed place, with more than dry laundry.

I emerged with an obsession to find out what鈥檚 happening to coin-op washes in Canada and what it means to a community and the people who need them when one closes.

In my travels across Canada to research the laundromat industry, from Tofino to Witless Bay, N.L., I visited more than 120 coin-ops and met close to 200聽owners, employees and 颅customers.

One thing was clear in interviews with most owners and employees 鈥� they put their hearts into these businesses. They care about the people they serve; they care about their 颅communities.

One in Toronto, as an example, washes blankets and towels for shelters free of charge. Another in Ottawa is managed by a social worker whose job also includes connecting new immigrant customers with language and settlement services.

Many offer free laundering to those who need a hand. An owner in Halifax lets unemployed people choose an outfit from the stack of abandoned (and clean) clothes for a job interview.

Naber also cares about her community. One night a week, LaundroLounge hosts social agencies that do laundry for our city鈥檚 homeless. No other coin-op wanted to take that on, she said.

If LaundroLounge turns off its taps permanently, downtown Victoria will lose an essential public service, and it will have a little less heart. Naber鈥檚 search for a new location continues, but the deadline is shrinking. She 鈥� and her customers 鈥� would appreciate a creative solution to her dilemma.

Nonen鈥檚 letter suggested one: Perhaps the condominium 颅developer can step up, as it has with several other projects in Victoria to make it a more affordable and livable city.

Local writer Nancy Pearson chronicles coin-op stories and issues on The Great 91原创 Laundromat Adventure on 颅Facebook.