Beautiful Laundrette, Transformed For Community

Success Story: Beautiful Laundrette transformed a utilitarian cleaner into a community “third space” and a pillar of a St. Paul, Minnesota working-class neighborhood.

Stryker Avenue is not a place most people visit, a quiet St. Paul street on an infrequent bus line that serves the community and not much else, which means there are few urban spaces more mundane than a Stryker Avenue laundromat. But since 2019, a business named Beautiful Laundrette has been quietly improving people’s lives on this West Side street. By working a little bit at a time, it transformed a utilitarian cleaner into a community “third space” and a pillar of a working-class neighborhood. 

“The first thing I did was tear down all the signs that say ‘No this’ or ‘No that’ or ‘No littering,’ and just give people respect,” says Laurel Gamm, owner of Beautiful Laundrette. 

Laurel said, “I have long had an interest in laundromats. I went for more than a decade without my own washing machine, and while that’s mostly a big inconvenience, there are silver linings. For one, I became a connoisseur of laundromat design. I wandered the city for years in search of ideal architecture and vibes in which to spend a couple hours in the middle of the day, tediously attending the humming machines and dispensing pocketfuls of quarters.”

“Some of my favorite laundromat qualities: buildings extending right up to the sidewalk; buildings with lots of windows; businesses within walking distance of a corner store or coffee shop; laundromats with the right kind of lighting, and, ideally, a place to sit outside on a nice day.”

For more information aobut this successful laundromat visit https://beautifullaundrette.com/, or email nate@beautifullaundrette.com