Mr. Brightside’s Family Laundry

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that some extenuating circumstances regarding the building’s owner have much to do with the current state of Mr. Brightside’s. The owner of the business seems genuinely concerned about the poor customer experience there, but has limited ability to address the larger issues (building infrastructure, mainly). I hope she is able to make progress here and turn the business into what she initially envisioned-​a clean, safe, functional, community-​centered establishment. Good luck!
In the meantime, I recommend Oak Grove Laundry next to Oak Grove Station on Grove St.

I absolutely love that there is such a friendly staff that is willing to help and put make it easier to do the «laundry». And I like the new placement of the tables. Thanx Mr Brightside for making a chore a good experience.

Wow what a difference now. New owners made it clean and a nice place to do laundry. I’ve had to go here twice when my own washer broke down and run into the owner. Nice lady who was very friendly.
I’ll go here again.

Yes, dirty laundry sucks and washing that dirty laundry sucks, too. That said, Mr. Brightside’s is at least as good a laundromat — if not better — as many others. The new owner — who’s super nice — is making improvements over time (including the new chairs, installing a new router so the Wi-​Fi works, etc.) and is responsive if you indicate you had a problem with any aspect of the facility. There is a contact number clearly posted if immediate help is needed and the laundromat is well lit/​surveilled by cameras (so it’s safe). On a hot day, having the ice cream shop next door (or grabbing a beverage/​snack from the mini-​mart on the other side) is a nice distraction from waiting for the spin cycle to finish…

My most hated household chore (well, aside from dusting) is laundry. I have no direct access to the basement of my building– where the washer, dryer and millipedes are– without going outdoors. Once Mt. Washington starts forming in my closet, I know it’s time for a trip up the road to Mr. Brightside’s.
Within the past year or two, Mr. Brightside’s was purchased from the Bernie & Phyll-​esque older couple that used to run it and some effort was put in to modernize the place. Broken cafeteria-​style plastic chairs were replaced, a TV was wall mounted, a sign and awning were installed outside, the smaller change machine was refurbished, a library of romance and pulp novels began to appear on top of the center counter and open wi-​fi is now available to all.
Most other physical characteristics remain unchanged– there are two back-​to-​back rows of a dozen commercial washers ($ 1.50 per load) with a few stainless steel large capacity washers on the northern end of the row. There are two enormous dryers in a nook on the far wall and about 15 – 20 commercial dryers along the adjacent wall ($.25 per five minutes, down from $.25 per eight minutes under the previous régime).
MVP: Free wi-​fi + smartphone = laundry win.
LVP: This laundromat is in a transient area, between two liquor stores, a cleaners, an ice cream stand and a convenience store. People are always coming in and out… I wouldn’t leave my stuff here unattended for very long.
Nothing is sparkling and new, but a perfectly fine place to spend two hours catching up on a laundry backlog.

Where’s a zero star when you need one? Facilities, though spacious, mean nothing when there’s half a notebook’s worth of OUT OF ORDER signs. Certainly less alarming than the DRUM SPINS UNTIL TIME IS UP-​USE CAUTION WHEN OPENING warning on one of the dryers.

Pro: They have lots of washers and dryers. It’s conveniently located.
Con: WiFi doesn’t work and there was no sign for a number to contact. Not staffed, NARROW isles between machines and the limited counter space.