Demographics

[CKH]

I’m still in the process of searching for a laundromat to acquire and I have three options right now; two of which are good and one is pretty much a no-go. As I’ve been trying to assess the options, I keep coming back to the demographics. The thing is, the one that I think is the best option has the worst demographics of the three on paper, but I may be more emotionally invested in this option for some reason.

I’d like to hear what you all look for in terms of demographics, and compare it to what I’ve found online doing my own research. Two distributors have told me that my favorite location has good demographics, or good enough to justify a retool. Today one told me that his strategy is to see how many competitors are within the immediate area and to calculate whether there are at least 5,000 people per laundromat in the area. He said this population size justifies a retool, which seemed excessively low to me compared to what other research I’ve found.

Here’s what I’ve found online so far:
Minimum one mile population: 10,000
Minimum population of renters: 25%
Minimum Hispanic population: 25%
Minimum blue collar workers: 35%

The site where I pulled these from had other figures for what constitutes a good/better/best scenario, but these are minimums for a good enough scenario. What are your thoughts?

[Author]

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