June 03, 2025
Business

Mega Grande laundromat opens; plans to extend hours

By KATIE SMITH

Pat Archibald moves her clothes through the aisles Friday at Mega Grande Laundromat at 1387 S. Fourth St. in DeKalb. Archibald and her family have been traveling from Romeoville to Texas and back throughout the year and stopped in DeKalb to wash their clothes. She said the laundromat was of the the cleanest and most impressive she has ever been to. (Katie Smith)

DeKALB – Following Mega Grande Laundromat’s grand opening May 22, owners have decided to extend the business’ hours to accommodate heavy customer traffic.

Jim Mason, owner of Mason Properties, said the laundromat will maintain its operating hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the time being.

He said the laundromat at 1387 S. Fourth St. will operate from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. starting next week.

Mason also plans to add a bar and gambling machines over the course of the next year.

“The laundromat is open and running, but it cannot have gambling and alcohol until I rezone the entire shopping center,” he said.

Mason estimated the building requires at least eight special permits between signage, renovation, and the bowling lanes and laser tag he plans to operate next door.

To obtain these permits, Mason said he has begun planning a new design for the property’s parking lot and floor plan, which he will present to the city’s planning commission. He expects the approval process for the special permits to be completed in February.

The property, which was previously a Sullivan’s grocery store, was divided into two sites after Mason Properties purchased the building in December 2013.

Sarah Whiting, Mega Grande’s general manager, said although the laundromat has opened for business, it will be at least four months until construction begins on the neighboring space.

“We are still processing the other side as far as layout, but once we submit to the city, it’s 120 days from then,” she said. “It will be the end of the year until that happens.”

The laundromat provides 58 washers that can handle 20 to 90 pounds of laundry and 88 dryers that can handle 30 to 50 pounds.

Whiting said Mason has tentative plans to include a drop-off service toward the end of the year.

The amount of business the laundromat has received came as a surprise to the building’s owners, Whiting said.

“We’ve been pretty steady since we opened, which is surprising because we really didn’t do a lot of advertising,” she said.

Mason said the two reconsidered the business’ hours after customers continually lined up to enter the laundromat early in the morning.

Among the group of eager customers was Pat Archibald of Romeoville, who drove past the laundromat in her RV.

“Over the last year, we’ve been traveling from Minnesota down to Texas and were traveling up again,” she said. “We’ve been to a lot of laundromats and this would be like a day’s adventure to have a good time.”

MegagrandeLaundromat