Ben, Scott, Anita, and Oliver Needham are behind the new Mama’s Laundry Bar in Dapto. Photo: Supplied.
A new laundromat in Dapto is giving the chore of washing a fresh spin, while bringing one family’s personal story back to the beginning.
Wollongong couple Scott and Anita Needham have launched Mama’s Laundry Bar – a modern, cashless self‑serve laundromat at Dapto.
“This means something to us,” Scott said.
“It’s not just another laundromat that you see popping up left, right and centre … This is a little bit different. It’s a labour of love for us.
“We were looking for something where we could start a family business and the idea of laundromats popped up.”
Anita is the inspiration behind the business’ name, Mama’s Laundry Bar.
“The word ‘Mama’s’ was important to us,” he said.
“We have two boys – Benjamin who’s 22 and Oliver is 20. The boys live at home and they still call Anita ‘Mama’ when they want to talk to her about things.
“So we thought, if we’re going to start a business, let’s make it personal.”
Scott said they started playing with different ways to describe what they were creating and landed on “laundry bar”, a twist that hints at a place you can drop in, stay a while, and feel comfortable, not just a row of machines.
He said the location had a personal connection, but also made smart business sense, because of its proximity to the centre of town.
“Whilst Anita and I live in Wollongong, we met and fell in love at Kanahooka High School, so we are locals,” he said.
“It’s a little bit of a coming home to the community that we have a strong connection with and memories as 17-year-olds.
“We had a look around and realised the Dapto region is home to about 30,000 people and there was no self‑serve laundromat for that community.
“The right site came up in the community we knew, so it just made sense.”
Scott remembers the building as a convenience store when he was a kid and more recently as Julio’s Pizza.
Now, to match the “Mama’s” brand, they have transformed the space to create a homely, welcoming environment.
There are charging stations, a bench for folding, a vending machine, and seating so people can wait comfortably while their washing is on.
Others choose to head to the mall and have a free text sent to them telling them when their laundry is done.
Although it’s only been open a couple of weeks, Scott said they had already experienced strong demand from a range of customers.
Some are laundromat regulars, others are tradies with heavy workwear, there are pet owners, people who need to wash and dry clothes on wet days, or those who need large machines to clean bedding, blankets and quilts.
Scott said they installed a dedicated pet bedding machine, separate from the “human” washers, specifically for items related to dogs, cats and even horses.
He said to cater for everyone’s needs, they offered washers from 10 kg up to 30 kg and dryers from 15 kg up to 35 kg.
“There is not a dryer bigger than our ‘Big Mama’ at a laundromat in the Illawarra region,” Scott said.
He said while their history with laundromats was while travelling overseas in Europe where it was more accepted, he was seeing increasing usage in Australia.
“I think increasingly in Australia with the lifestyles that people are leading, they want more time,” he said.
“We wanted to provide a service that gave people time back.
“We want them to come in and feel like, ‘That was easy, you’ve solved one of my daily problems, and therefore I’ve got time to do other things.’”
Scott said it was that ability to simply bundle all their washing and drying into a single hour by using commercial machines.
He said technology had quietly transformed what a laundromat could be, with all machines being cashless, set up using QR codes or a kiosk, and featuring automatic dosing of hypoallergenic and fragrance-free detergent and softener.
“Those technology and payment advancements have allowed us to be able to deliver that service to people in an efficient way,” he said.
“Gone are the days where people have to grab the four litres of fabric softener and then struggle with that to get it into the laundry, only to realise they’ve left the detergent at home.”
He said ultimately it was about making life easier.
“We want to provide a great service to everyone by providing a place where modern technology meets old-world charm and they can get a job done, get time back in their day and feel good doing it.”
Mama’s Laundry Bar is located at 76 Byamee St, Dapto and open from 6 am to 10 pm daily.
