Soap bar Launderette

A great place to hang out and do your laundry — especially after a hot 34 degrees out. I’m halfway through the drying cycle and I feel so relaxed.
The machines are brand-​new and solid. Free WiFi. Free phone charging. Lounge, café tables, laptop free to use, on-​site ATM and coin-​changer. Everything you could ask for. Plus a massage chair and an actual café. I’m sure there’s more stuff to distract you, if you look. Lots of Frankie magazines, a chess table, tv screen, a fan.
I can’t think of anything else it needs. Tarot reader? Open mic poetry slam? Or maybe just someone to hang out with. Doing laundry is lonely mission. But this place makes it all painless.
Hey, Soap Bar: I like you, just the way your are.

This is without doubt the best laundrette in town. Clean, comfortable, imaginative, great music, AND everything works.

I can confirm that the coffee shop is now operational.
We live around the corner, and have occasionally used this laundrette (the ‘e’ in the middle is a UK/​US spelling thing, apparently), but have watched the recent changes carefully. There was a planning ‘kerfuffle’ caused by the removal of front windows without planning permission (there’s a heritage overlay in the area), and I can see both sides of that problem. The owners’ intentions in changing the windows were honourable, though I quite liked the old typography (font nerd, sorry). The café was held up a little waiting for approval from the Health Dept (I guess people’s ability to keep detergent and sugar separate wasn’t obvious to them?).
The new fitout is hip, but not too self-​conscious. I have used the large washers to clean doonas, and will continue to as needed. Before the café was operational, I was very tempted to use the Soap Bar as a quiet place to write… I may still, yet.
Today I tried their coffee for the first time. I’m new to coffee-​drinking, but can differentiate between nice coffee and bad coffee. This coffee was good, not bitter or burnt (to my inexpert tastes). In my change was the hottest $ 2 coin I have ever handled (the money tray sits on the warmest part of the fridge).
Free wifi is a boon. There’s a framed TV which I’m not completely sure works if you can’t hear dialogue (perhaps some Buster Keaton?). It’s a place set up knowing that waiting for your laundry is not fun, and does as much as it can to make it fun. There’s a nine-​letter word jumble on the chalkboard that changes each workday, answer on the website. Lucky they don’t make it their wifi password ;-). Their website is also pretty useful; they get a bit ‘Shannon Lush’ on stain removal tips, and that’s a good thing.
This is the sort of place you’d expect to find in Brooklyn, except there it would be staffed by hipster douches. This is exactly the kind of gentle gentrification that Elgin Street needs.

This place has got to be one of the best, if not THE best, launderette in Melbourne! You’ll be pleasantly shocked to find a cosy, clean interior, with a plethora of current magazines to browse while your laundry is doing its business.
Here is a quick run-​down of some of the benefits of this launderette over others:
~ Free wifi
~ Coffee shop built-​in (not sure if this is operational yet as of March 2014)
~ Free use of common device charges for iPhone, Android, etc. («don’t be scared to syphon our leccy»)
~ Power-​points *everywhere* if you decide to BYO device charger
~ Leather couches
~ Bathroom facilities
~ Outside courtyard at the back if you want to have a smoke or just enjoy some sunshine.
Front load wash is $ 6, and $ 1 to use the dryer. They also provide washing soap/​liquid toward the back for $ 1 (honesty system).