ELY- The Laundry Room at 428 E. Sheridan St. has been stricken by a punbelievable outbreak of colorful quips—take-offs on celebrities and movie characters. No longer are patrons utilizing run-of-mill washers and dryers. Instead, they’re tossing their tighty whities into the gaping maw of Luke Skywasher or Oprah Spinfry.
The punny name project was the idea of Emily Weise, one of the new owners of the Laundry Room along with her husband Joe Weise. Emily, who runs the marketing side of the business, has also been spreading her spin on naming the machines out on Facebook. Photos of the latest washer and dryer names have popped up on the What’s Up Ely, MN Facebook group. The Facebook page for the Laundry Room hosts posts asking for name suggestions and then running polls to see which ones are the most popular.
The best-liked names will likely label a washer or dryer, even though many machines are already named. “Star Wars” fans can wash their dirty laundry in Obi-wan Kleanobi while “Game of Thrones” aficionados will appreciate Drynerys Targaryen for drying their clothes.
“As a family, we like word play,” Joe Weise told the Timberjay, explaining how the puns spread from home to business. “(Laundromats) are not exactly a sexy business … We thought it was a good idea, to spruce up the (laundromat) experience for people, and let the customers know we’re invested in the business and that we care about it.”
The Weises have been in Ely 15 years. Joe is a financial planner at the Thrivent Financial office in Ely, just two blocks from the Weise’s new business. Emily is one of the directors at the YMCA Camp du Nord on Burntside Lake. They recently bought the Laundry Room and reopened for business on Dec. 16.
“We want to expand the business,” Joe Weise said, “especially the commercial side.” The Weises plan to target resorts in the region for commercial laundry services and hired their first two employees just this week for the commercial side of the business.
Regardless, it’s the individual customer side of the business that pun-ishes its patrons with the washers and dryers with the play on names—because a bad pun, after all, is its own reword.