Potential is what Kelli Johnson saw when she bought what once was a rundown laundromat on Murray Avenue on Milwaukee’s East Side.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Johnson officially became the owner of the space that is now The Washroom in November 2024. Her original idea was to turn the space into a coffee shop, but the area was not large enough.
Left with the original washers and dryers (with newer machines coming), Johnson decided to keep the space as a laundromat.
“We’re always going to need to wash clothes,” Johnson told Madison365. “It’s a service for the community, and I don’t want to take that service away.”
Johnson also wanted to create a third place for the people in the area.
A third place is described as a space that is not the home or work for people to go and connect with their community without the obligation of spending money.
While The Washroom is a laundromat, Johnson said there is no expectation for people to spend money in order to use the space.
“It’s available for, really, anyone who lives in the area. You can just walk on over and use the WiFi,” Johnson said.
After studying abroad in Europe and doing laundry often, Johnson realized that unlike in the United States, a cafe, bar or even library was connected to the laundromats. She also noticed how little third places existed in the United States.
“I think it’s pretty evident that we are living in a loneliness epidemic,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, the longing for third spaces is seen in not only how lonely people are, but how disconnected people are from their own communities.
In 2023, the surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, put out the first-ever advisory on the nation’s epidemic of loneliness. In the advisory, Vivek said, “About one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness.”
The lockdown in 2020 did have an impact on people’s feelings of isolation and loneliness, but these numbers reflected trends happening before the start of the pandemic.
In the short time Johnson has purchased The Washroom, she has already started to build connections with other small businesses in the area.
Right now, Johnson wants to focus on doing little things that will improve customers’ experience at The Washroom. This ranges from adding books to the laundromat’s free library to taking forgotten clothes to Goodwill to finding local art to cover what are currently plain white walls.
As time goes on, Johnson hopes to find more ways to work with businesses in the community.
Johnson said she thought about having a food truck outside of the laundromat to provide people with coffee or sandwiches. Another idea she has is to partner with food shelters and host food giveaways at the laundromat.
Johnson currently wants more people to come in and use The Washroom and see it as a new place with the potential to become a community staple.
