Full of life in the laundry rooms

While wandering around random laundries on a Thursday, we were lucky enough to meet owners who are sprucing up and sprucing up an increasingly rare essential service and some of their satisfied customers.

The “discovery of the year”

Plants, play and reading corner, proximity to a bakery and prime location in Little Italy. “My discovery of the year”, can we read in a perfect score attributed on Google. ” Staff super friendly. “Lovely place. »

Are we talking about a hotel? From a restaurant?

Oh no. We are talking more about a place where we go to wash our dirty laundry.

Located on rue Beaubien, My laundry room is very popular with those who come here regularly to do loads.

During our visit, the owner was not in the charming glass office separating the appliances from the entrance. Her friend Laurence worked there peacefully.

We will not hide it: some laundries are places of high depression without a soul. But when you have a neighborhood business like My laundry a few steps from your home, it’s not a chore to go out to do your laundry.

A short film was even shot there by Rin Eadie, a regular at My Laundry and a professional photographer. When the latter saw a couple dancing as if they didn’t exist, she had the idea of ​​a film that bears witness to “the beauty of everyday life”. For her, My laundry room is “a neighborhood treasure”. “I feel at home here,” she says.

Guy Létourneau has been frequenting the laundry room at 81, rue Beaubien Est for 25 years. “It changed owners twice. It has become a beautiful place. »

Has the man ever thought about getting a washing machine? “I have a three and a half and I have no space,” he says.

He likes the routine of getting out of his house for a load. ” I am used to. »

As Mr. Létourneau comes out of My laundry room, Marie-Hélène – a Rosemontoise who prefers not to mention her last name given her reserved nature – is folding towels. “I make the detour to come here because it has front load washing and it’s gentler on clothes that last longer and don’t pill. »

“Besides, it’s beautiful here with all the plants!” There is atmosphere. »

It was during the pandemic that Marie-Hélène discovered My laundry room. “The one where I was going near my home closed during confinement. Let’s just say it wasn’t funny. »

She only washes every three weeks. “I take several washers at the same time, so it goes quickly. I have so many clothes,” she says.

Meanwhile, another regular at My laundry enters with a loaf of bread from the De Froment and Sève bakery under her arm.

Here ? “ It’s chill and amazing “says in English the young woman from Nova Scotia, who is doing a master’s degree at Concordia University.

“I live around the corner,” says Chalace Slipp. It’s relaxed here with the plants and it’s also cheap. Plus, they let me bring my dog. »

Having a coffee and doing her homework under the spinning noise of washers and dryers, Chalace can even say that she likes it.

This is exactly what Karine Fontaine, the owner since 2019, who has lived in the neighborhood for a long time, wanted. “I never thought I would have a laundry room,” points out the real estate broker by trade. When she acquired the building, it had been on sale for three years. “I live two blocks from here, and I was looking for a place with a garage and parking. »

Karine Fontaine quickly acquired a taste for life in the laundry room, which reflects the way she likes to work in real estate, on a human scale. “I saw that there was a great need and I wanted to keep a business accessible to people in the neighborhood. »

During the pandemic, children came to play there while people came for a change of scenery. “My goal was for it to be welcoming and comfortable. »

It’s mission accomplished.

From mother to son

At Marie-Hélène’s suggestion, we then headed to another place with a very charming name: Buanderie La pince à linge mère & fils.

Inside, the atmosphere is also very friendly. Here there is a piano to give away. There, there are books, words written on the wall and a sink that makes us feel at home.

“It’s been a laundry room here for 50 years,” tells us the new mistress of the place, Karine Doucet, delighted with the welcome she has had in the neighborhood.

For a long time, the owners were members of the Légaré family. The name is still impregnated on the marquise.

It was from parents at her son’s school that Karine Doucet learned that the laundry room located at the corner of D’Iberville and Bélanger streets was for sale.

Karine Doucet has 13 and 15 year old sons. She hopes her eldest will be able to deliver clean clothes on board his scooter next summer, especially for elderly people who struggle to get around or who are reluctant to be in a public place.

Karine Doucet offers personalized washing and folding services with a price per pound of clothing. “I respond to special requests and I make good prices,” she says.

“I’m here every day,” she continues. I also travel if I have orders from small businesses around, such as hairdressing and beauty salons…”

La Buanderie The mother & son clothespin has many favorable reviews on Google. We boast air conditioning and WiFi, its atmosphere vintageas well as the cleanliness of the place and the kindness of its owner.

“I put my heart into it,” says the main interested party.

And it’s give and take. “I could write a book so much I hear stories here. Stories that can make you cry. People open their hearts, ”said the one who was very shy at the idea of ​​being the star of our report.

“It’s not a jewelry store,” she jokes.

However, Karine Doucet is very proud to manage a family business that she will one day be able to pass on to her sons.

A must-have cafe-laundry

A little further south, also rue Beaubien Est, is La Brassée, which used to be called the Mousse Café.

This is perhaps Montreal’s first reinvented laundromat, or at least the best known.

Cédric Amram bought the bistro washer four years ago. “This is where I drank my first coffee in Montreal when I arrived from France,” he says.

He was working in the old grocery store next door when, while smoking a cigarette in the alley, the former owner talked to him about handing over the torch. Cédric then jumped at the chance.

A wall separates the washer and dryer section from the restaurant section. “I like neighborhood life and having a useful business for the neighborhood,” says Cédric Amram.

Rising rents for commercial buildings have recently driven down the number of laundries. “Two laundries have closed around us in less than three years. It’s not a business for the future, ”says the man who had been waiting for a technician to come for almost two months to repair a few devices.

Modest, the income from the laundry is only “pocket money”. However, Cédric Amram came to live in Quebec in “decline” mode, after the frantic professional rhythm he led in France. “I divided by five. I came to change my life,” he sums up.

The pandemic has been difficult, but the laundry room has allowed it to stay open and offer coffees and take-out food. “It saved me. In fact, it was the neighborhood that saved me, because people were very supportive. »

While most La Brassée customers are regulars (some come to pick up their Lufa Farms basket), a young woman comes in and asks Cédric how to wash.

Yasmeen Qureshi has a washer, but she came to do a load of sheets.

First step: she needs money.

Then soap.

“It was unexpected,” she says when asked to take her picture.

See her washing in pink

Upon our arrival at Pinkita, located just across from the Fairmount Bagel Bakery, tourists come out of the laundry room, cameras around their necks.

Even the Montreal brand of shoes L’Intervalle chose the decor of Chez Pinkita for an advertising campaign, tells us the one who signs the design of the place, Ibraheem Youssef. There was also a collaboration with Citizen Vintage.

Chez Pinkita is undoubtedly the most “instagrammable” laundromat in Montreal.

“My dad wanted to make a pink museum,” says while folding clothes Priscilla, daughter of owner Rocky Mt. Lo (who was in Hong Kong when we visited).

We dare not tell Priscilla, but the many bags of clothes that line up in the entrance would be a great source of discouragement for us.

If many people come to do their washing at Pinkita in “self-service”, others prefer the turnkey formula (and get their stockings perfectly folded into a ball).

Priscilla points out that the extreme cold of the previous weekend (the first of February) caused the pipes to freeze, hence the accumulated delay of two days. “We had to move machines,” she says.

At Pinkita, not only is space limited, there are also all kinds of items on display and for sale, not to mention the many goodies that line any space that can be used as a counter.

There is even a mural by artist Kayla Buium (Milkbox), not to mention that you can order a bubble tea pink. “My dad wanted people to connect with the environment,” says Priscilla.

Rocky Mt. Lo bought the laundry several years ago. It was during the pandemic that Ibraheem Youssef, who came to do his washing there, helped him to arrange the place all in pink.

“I’m proud of the community place it has become. It’s an experience to come here,” says the man who specializes in branding.

A regular customer of Chez Pinkita confirms to us how much it is an extraordinary place that puts you in a good mood. The proof: he has a washing machine in his building and he still comes to do his washing there.