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Figure · The playgroundOne job, one place, many players: laundry in New York

PlaceNew YorkIn small European villages, families do their laundry at home. Another place, other rules.

The job“My laundry has to be clean”

Players · every way the job gets done

Washing by hand

Washing machine at home

Dry cleaner

Housekeeper

LaundromatWhere Launderette plays

Ways that involve no product count too: washing by hand and the housekeeper compete with the laundromat.

Rules, norms and habits of this place

37%of homes across New York State have no clothes washer

Apartments have historically been cramped, and many come without a washing machine
There is a real culture of taking your clothes to the laundromat
The usual laundromat: bright white light, bags piled on the machines, an hour of waiting

New player · Launderette, Williamsburg, early 2025A laundromat in Brooklyn where the hour of waiting becomes time you’d want to spend there.Takes the form the city already uses, a laundromat, and removes what the others accept: bag storage moved to a basement, a front area for working and gathering, a power outlet at every seat, a coffee bar.

Figure · What sits inside whatShelf, market, category and niche all sit inside one playground

PlaygroundEvery way people in New York get “my laundry has to be clean” done

Other markets, same job

Washing machines

Dry cleaning

Home services

Washing by hand · no product, no market

LaundromatsMarket: the money spent on them. Category: laundromats compared with each other.

Niche: a laundromat for students

Shelf: the laundromats you choose between

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