Two Fairview women with busy jobs and 6 kids between them launch new venture in Erie - GoErie.com

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Jim Martin   | Erie Times-News

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Business partners Melissa Pagliari and Angela Magee like to think they created something unique recently when they opened The Launderie Room Express Wash and Dry.

The business, located in a newly renovated 68-year building at 2810 State St., took shape during the long months of the COVID-19 shutdown when cleaning and painting seemed like attractive family entertainment.

The partners' investment of more than $400,000 won't be repaid with the clinking of coins into a machine.

Instead, the high-capacity, high-speed machines are funded using prepaid cards that can be purchased with cash or a credit card.

The machines themselves are identified not by number, but by name, borrowed from family members and pets.

Need a small washer? Maybe see if Keegan or Luca is available. Options for large or extra-large washers include Willy, Pags and Grandpa Sal.

Magee said they visited a lot of laundries, most of which identified their machines by number.

They wanted to be different, to invite customers to pick a favorite machine with a name they could remember.

While certain washer-dryer combinations are able to wash and dry a load of clothes in just 45 minutes, The Launderie Room owners have options for customers who are pressed for time, including both a by-the-pound wash, dry and fold service, and sometime soon, a pickup and drop-off service.

Pagliari said they have already hired six part-time employees at $15 an hour and are looking eventually to hire more.

It wasn't as if Pagliari and Magee didn't already have a lot on their plates.

Pagliari, 41, is a lawyer in private practice, a part-time public defender for Erie County and the mother of three children, ages 6, 9 and 11.

Magee, 43, owns a marketing firm, runs a nonprofit and has three children of her own, ages 6, 9 and 10.

But both women found themselves feeling restless.

They were both looking for some passive income, a return on investment that would come in even as they worked their regular jobs. And Magee was looking for a way to expand her nonprofit, United Service Corps.

A consultation with the Gannon Small Business Development Center convinced Magee that she might be able to do the most for her nonprofit goals by creating a for-profit business.

Plans for the laundry were almost fully formed when she had a chance meeting with Pagliari, a neighbor in Fairview, whom she knew only slightly.

It was over a year ago that the two women shared a bottle of wine and some conversation while two of their children played.

Magee told her about her plans for a laundry in Erie, but admitted that she had hit a wall.

"She had the buildings at that point and Gannon had helped with the business plan," Pagliari said. "She had the vision. It was really the financing."

The addition of a second partner, one with extensive experience helping her clients work with banks, helped them secure a loan through Northwest Bank.

What Magee didn't know was that Pagliari had been telling her family for years that owning a laundry was her dream business.

Pagliari was serious.

"As an attorney, it's a very stressful career. It can be very lucrative when you are a grinder, but it's work day in and day out," she said. "My husband and I are both attorneys. We work weekends. We work before the kids get up and after they go to bed. I think the attraction was the passive income."

For most of a year now, the two women have been working to build out that dream, installing new equipment, high-speed internet and new gas, electric, water and sewage service.

They're hopeful that they've found the right location, a neighborhood where more than 80% of the residents rent, suggesting many of them might not have access to laundry equipment at home. 

While the laundry is open, the business partners continue to work on the second adjoined building, which they hope to rent out as commercial office space. The two business partners say they are feeling hopeful about their chances for success.

"It was almost a year ago that we (became) business partners," Magee said. "It's a really cool thing to experience a dream realized. I don't think it's happened to me that many times."

And good news for the business is likely to mean good news for United Service Corps, which has done a variety of fundraisers, including 5K glow runs to provide assistance to teen mothers and foster children.

Success isn't certain at this point, but Pagliari said she's optimistic.

"I go between excited and nervous, Pagliari said. "It's always scary when you open your doors and hope the community wants you there and wants your services. I think they will."

Jim Martin can be reached at 870-1668 or at jmartin@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNMartin.

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February 21, 2021 at 04:17PM
https://www.goerie.com/story/business/2021/02/21/two-women-open-new-laundry-erie/6740489002/

Two Fairview women with busy jobs and 6 kids between them launch new venture in Erie - GoErie.com

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