ALL WASHED UP

Gina Jones and Mark Smith visited while waiting for their laundry to dry.

Nancy Adams loaded washers for a customer at the SEMO Laundry at 123 N. Pacific. Adams handles the drop off laundry service for customers.

Different reasons force people to seek out their neighborhood Laundromats.

No money for large appliances. Broken dryers. Lack of hook-ups.

But at one time or another, most people have gathered up armloads of odorous garments and handfuls of quarters for the privilege of washing their clothes. The Laundromat experience can be quick and easy with no jockeying for dryers or long and arduous if it's a busy day.

At least Cape Girardeans have a wide selection of laundry facilities, from small, unattended ones to large, bartended ones.

Laundromat regulars said they look for three things in all of them: cleanliness, convenience and good maintenance.

Tracy Hutton, 21, said she goes to laundries because she doesn't have access to washers and dryers at home. There are benefits to making the trip -- it takes an hour to do four loads of laundry instead of a day. There's no waiting for one load to finish before starting another.

Last week, Hutton decided to do her laundry at Soap and Suds on Silver Springs Road. It's close to her home and she usually doesn't have to wait for a machine.

The big issue for Hutton, however, is the quality of the washing machines.

"At some places, the cycles don't run long enough and you know your clothes aren't getting clean," she said.

Another customer, Rodney Kruse, 21, said having only one washer and one dryer for his whole apartment building made doing laundry there inconvenient. When he has more than one load to do, Kruse goes to the Laundromat nearest his home.

"The biggest factor is convenience," Kruse said, "but if the most convenient one isn't very nice, quality will override convenience."

Soap and Suds owner Myra Jung opened her business last April. She wanted a Laundromat like one she saw in St. Louis that served drinks and had various games for patrons to play while they waited.

The business sells beer, sandwiches and snacks to eat and offers pool, pinball and video games for entertainment. The large building with the latest, digital washers and dryers cost $750,000, Jung said, but the response has been worth it. On Saturdays and Sundays, Soap and Suds is packed.

"I thought this end of town needed a Laundromat, and I thought this was the perfect place for it," Jung said. "I wanted to serve the community with a good facility that gave people something to do while they were doing their laundry."

She also offers dry cleaning and a washing service for 75 cents per pound of laundry. Customers for both services can use a drive-through window.

This combination of several services, along with clean surroundings, has made the business successful, Jung said. Another plus is on-site staff, something several Cape Laundromats don't have.

"You need someone on duty to help the customers, watch their kids and keep the washers clean," Jung said. "My girls do a really good job."

SEMO Laundry also has attendants who work while the facility is open. Without them, owner Eddie Phillips said, vandals or even customers' children may damage expensive equipment.

"People want a clean, nice looking place," he said. "They don't want to go in and find dryer sheets lying around. They want a clean and safe environment to do their laundry in, and it's my attendants' responsibility to make sure that's what customers get."

SEMO Laundry also offers drop-off service for $1.50 a load plus the cost of the washer and dryer. Because of his diverse services, he sees diverse customers. Half are people who can't afford washing machines, he estimated, and the rest are drop-off customers and college students.

He and partner Rose Detloff bought the Laundromat nearly four years ago, when it had 15-year-old machines and few customers. Lots of money and hard work helped attract customers, and the partners have been putting their money back into the business.

Their next investments will be new flooring and ceiling tiles.