History of Harveys Laundry
Harveys began in 1992 with the opening of a small laundry shop in the Westend at 161 Great Western Road, while Vijay was studying engineering at Strathclyde University. He divided up his time between studying and managing the business.
From day one, customer service was the focus. Whilst other laundrettes were shabby, Harveys offered leather seating, MTV, video games, teas & coffees. These luxuries were not common in those days.
Customers loved it and the business was a great success.
Not wanting to waste anytime, Vijay decided to open another branch at Maryhill Road in 1994.
A year later to continue growing, he opened another branch in Saracen Street, Glasgow in 1995.
The shops provided a service to retail customers for washing and ironing. Vijay saw a great demand for deliveries and decided to offer a home delivery service to his customers.
The business was growing and booming due to great customer service and we were soon running out of space. So, as well as the 3 shops, a small industrial unit was opened in Port Dundas, Glasgow to process all the extra work.
At this point things were getting pretty hectic and Vijay asked his brother Vinay to come on board and give him a hand for a few months (Vijay has still not finished with Vinay!).
After getting his masters degree Vijay took on a full time job as well as running the business. As the business continued to grow, Vijay quickly made a decision to leave his job and go full time with the laundry. 3 more vans were put on the road, making a total fleet of 4. Harveys Laundry as we know it today was starting to take shape.
Vijay & Vinay expanded into larger commercial customer, restaurants & hotels as well. This unit as well as the 3 shops proved to be too small a space yet again.
Unfortunately after a few months of moving into the new unit a fire broke out and destroyed the unit and the machines. Vijay and Vinay worked night and day to keep the the work being processed so that the customers did not get any disruptions in their service. The unit did not close a single day despite the fire. This was a very difficult time, working night and day with whatever few machines that were left to process the work, this continued for 11 months before Harveys was able to locate to a new unit.
In 1997, a larger unit 4 times the size of the previous was purchased and Harveys Laundry moved into this unit. The business continued to grow, with Vinay now focusing on operations and Vijay focusing on growth.
By 2002 the business had grown and the unit was running 24 hours a day and it was now time again to look for a larger unit. 24 Fairley Street was purchased and is 5 times the size of the previous unit. Moving units each time was a big task and Vijay & Vinay wanted to ensure that they would have a big enough space so they would no longer need to keep moving.
We didn’t have enough money to call in professional engineers, so Vijay decided to do all the work himself with one handyman and installed all the pipe work, boilers and washing machines in the new unit, whilst Vinay sweated out operating the previous unit by himself.
24 Fairley Street took one year to prepare and get ready. When we moved in, the factory was two thirds empty with only 2 washing machines and one ironer (very different from today where the factory is jam packed with linen & machinery!).
Fast forward to today, we continue to deliver WOW through service and are the most reliable laundry in Scotland, servicing many luxury hotels and Michelin restaurants.
In 2004, Harveys expanded into property and built up a portfolio of residential and commercial properties. In 2009, Harveys expanded again, purchasing a care home, with further care homes being added in 2014, 2016 and 2018. In 2018, they also opened their new brand Our HQ, branching out in to the serviced office sector.
In 2020 while everybody shut down and COVID panic gripped throughout the world, Harveys took the bold move to expand. Harveys Laundry set out plans to double its production capacity and spend more on machines and systems.
Today the Harveys Group of companies employ 220 people throughout Scotland and plans to double in size over the next 5 years.
Harveys continues to grow based on one principle- Deliver WOW through service and minimising waste!!
Welcome to Harveys: now you know what we’ve been up to in the past, it’s in your hands to carry on delivering service with WOW and become part of our history.