AMBOY – Mike and Mary Anderson are not new to owning businesses. 

The former pumpkin patch which ran on Rt. 52 for 10 years was the Andersons.

Anderson Service has been open in downtown Amboy for 24 years; 25 years in July.

Now, the couple have brought in a new addition to the downtown business district with a laundromat, Laundry on Main, located at 245 E. Main St.  

“We have had a business in town for over 20 years. Over the years, a lot of people have thought about putting in a laundry mat but no one has,” Mike Anderson said. “I’m getting close to retirement. I didn’t want to see The Amboy News leave the building because I had heard it had been at the other building for over 100 years. When I bought the building, I thought the newspaper would be around a lot longer than I would be. It took me by surprise when they told me they were combining The Mendota Reporter and The Amboy News into one building in Mendota.

“Mary and I discussed it and we thought Amboy needed a laundromat really bad. We pushed for the laundromat. This may not be the ideal location, but I didn’t want to put it outside of town. Having a downtown with a lot of businesses is a great in Amboy.”

Mike grew up in Sublette, while Mary grew up in Amboy.

The two have been married for over 40 years and met halfway as they bought 52 acres on Rt. 52 between Sublette and Amboy.

Mary has been a United States Postal Service rural carrier for the last 18 years and has a few more trips around the calendar before she can retire. 

Being the supportive husband he is, he doesn’t want to retire from the automotive shop until his wife can retire.

Hence another project, another business to help add to the retirement funds.

“It wasn’t cheap, but I read a story one time about the Top 10 successful businesses and laundromats were toward the top,” Mike Anderson said. “People need them. There are many residential accommodations in Amboy without a washer and dryer and the trailer park is good size. I had a guy try to wash his laundry before we were open and he lived between Ladd and Cherry. Him and his wife come to Amboy to eat at the Long Branch and thought they would bring laundry because there isn’t a laundromat in Ladd, Cherry, or any of those towns over there.

“It surprised me that we were getting people who don’t live in Amboy before we were even open.”

The hours of operation at Laundry on Main are from 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Sunday, seven days a week.
 

There are 17 washers ($6, $3, and $2 variety), 16 dryers, a vending machine for detergent and bleach, gumball machine, booth table seatin, a TV that will air Christian music, and a church pew and bible.

“A friend of ours from our church, The Refuge Church at Mendota Hills Camp Ground, gave us a pew to make sure there was a place for people to sit in here and worship if they’d like. We have a bible here as well. Our faith is real big,” Mike Anderson said. “You would be surprised how many people don’t want to talk about faith or God because they think they’ll offend someone. I’m the opposite, if it offends someone, I don’t care. I’ll invite anyone to church or to pick up the bible, and if they don’t want to, that’s OK also.”

This spring, Laundry on Main will offer a wash and fold service, and pick up and delivery.

The items for the services will be washed and dried with machines in the back to not use machines customers could be using.

The Andersons and their friends have worked on the building and setting up the laundromat for the last six months. During this time, calls have been fielded from Mendota, Dixon, Sublette, and Franklin Grove in preparation of the opening.

With Laundry on Main now open, residents of Amboy and other towns can wash their wash in a comfortable space with many options of food, shopping, and other Amboy accommodations within feet, within minutes.

“People want the laundromat clean, bright, and they want the machines to work. Those are the three things vital to running a laundromat,” Mike Anderson said. “They want things to work. There are so many laundromats that have a lot of out of order signs. We’re not behind the times where there are still parts and they can be fixed. But too often it’s months before they’re fixed. 

“With my background, I feel like I’ll be able to do a lot of the work to them and keep them running and working well.”