Double Duty

A Dual-purpose Space Attracts a More Varied Market and Creates More Opportunities to Be of Service

- Tricia Morente

Fusion isn’t only happening on the plate. Sprouting all over Manila are enterprises with split personalities. From a bike and athletic shop in Mandaluyong serving light meals and single origin coffee to a yoga studio in Bonifacio Global City offering healthy, organic eats to yogis coming out of an intense asana practice, there seems to be an uptrend in hybrid businesses that allow customers to hit two birds with one stone.

COFFEE AND CLEAN CLOTHES

With its third branch located in the laid-back Barangay Kapitolyo neighborhood, The Washery presents a contemporary spin on the traditional business of keeping clothes clean. The laundromat, which started as a drop-off counter in UP Town Center, offers savory pastas and sandwiches, a selection of caffeinated drinks that includes a heavenly cup of matcha latte, and both drop-off and do-it-yourself laundry services.

Founded by sisters Therinne Aquino-Goyeneche and Camille Aquino, whose mother started Wash N’ Wear, one of the pioneer laundry shops in the country, The Washery is one of the few, if not the first, laundromat bistros of its kind in Metro Manila. “The concept is not entirely new,” points out Aquino-Goyeneche, who, like her sister, left the corporate world to focus on their new business venture. “We saw that there were a lot of laundromat cafés in Australia, Europe, and Korea, and thought to bring the concept here.”