Have you ever felt like you’ll never get done with all your laundry?
We’ve all walked into our home or apartment one evening, only to discover that an invasion has taken place… and the army of dirty clothes will not easily be turned back! But no matter how tall the piles of dirty socks are, no matter how stinky the laundry basket is, VroomVroomVroom’s friends in the Chicagoland area know they’ve got a secret weapon in nearby Berwyn, Illinois: Tom Benson’s World’s Largest Laundromat!
With over 13,500 square feet of space in this Big Laundromat, which is open 24 hours a day year-round, locals can fight their Big Battles for Clean Clothes at this laundromat. It features over 300 washers and dryers, and tons of amenities for customers like Wi-Fi Internet, over a dozen flat-screen TVs, plenty of employees if you need help, video game machines, a play area, and (often) children’s entertainers like professional clowns!
The cleverly named World’s Largest Laundromat is also eco-friendly, with much of its hot water provided by 36 rooftop solar panels that help keep the business’ energy costs down. Obviously, hot water is a huge expense for any Big Laundromat in the USA!
Each of the panels is a Big 40 square feet in size, and they collect the sun’s energy atop the building and convert it to electricity. Their addition to the business was subsidized by an Illinois state co-op program.
Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn once told USA Today that “the World’s Largest Laundromat has served as a role model. It’s shown that solar can work in the Midwest climate, in the heartland.”
If you’re in or around Chicago, and you’d like to drive your rental car over to see this Big Laundromat in person, it’s really easy to find. Just hop in your car rental and head West from Chicago for about 7 miles on Interstate 290. Take Exit 23A and turn left on South Austin Boulevard. Drive your rental car another mile-and-a-half and hang a right onto Cermak Road (22nd Street). The World’s Largest Laundromat will be about 1500 hundred feet away, on your right! Its address is 6246 West Cermak Road in Berwyn. Make sure that you take those dirty blue jeans with you…
And don’t forget to wash all delicates on a gentle cycle!!!
