HELP. My mind is freezing up. Can any sane person on this Board figure out what is going on here ... is this a cheap way of duplicating Seven Eleven's infrastructure without the hassel of keeping track of a gizzillion inventory stock keeping units?
Tuesday, May 2, 2000
Watanabe Gumi, U.S. Firm Launch Japan Laundromat Venture
FUKUOKA (Nikkei)--Watanabe Gumi Co., a civil engineering company located in Fukuoka Prefecture, will begin operating coin laundries nationwide through a joint venture with SpinCycle Inc., a U.S. coin laundry company based in Arizona.
The venture's large laundry facilities will be staffed by attendants at all times, which the new company says makes them safer than ordinary coin laundries.
The first location will be opened May 21 in the city of Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture. It will have a total of 80 U.S.-made washers and dryers. By January 2001, the joint company aims to have 20 locations nationwide.
The new venture is capitalized at 200 million yen. Members of the Watanabe family, the family behind Watanabe Gumi, own 70% of the firm. A Softbank Investment Corp. funds owns 25% and SpinCycle owns 5%.
The new company anticipates annual sales of 60-100 million yen per location. It aims to operate in the black in the fiscal year through January 2002.
SpinCycle, established in 1995, has about 200 stores across the U.S.
(The Nikkei Industrial Daily Tuesday edition) |
