Business Profile: Erin Howell
Title and company: Co-owner, with her husband, Brent, of Coin-op Laundry and Showers.
Services: The Howells own the self-service laundry in the Squire's Rest building, located near Auke Bay. The laundry is part of Auke Bay Industries, a trucking and excavation business Brent Howell operates in the summer.
Eight washers, nine dryers and two showers comprise the laundry. The washers and dryers are new Maytag machines.
"Maytag machines are really good machines," Howell said. She and her husband set prices for the laundry by researching the prices of other laundries in town.
"I think the prices we have are just a little bit better than others in town," she said. The laundry receives a lot of tourist traffic in the summer, and is used year-round by residents out Glacier Highway and those who live in Auke Bay.
Howell's mother-in-law, Diane Howell, and father-in-law, Don Howell, assist Erin and Brent in running the laundry while Erin finishes college in Anchorage. She expects to receive her degree in civil engineering in two years.
"The Laundromat pretty much just runs itself," said Diane Howell.
Don Howell collects the money from the machines every evening, and e-mails the revenue numbers to Erin in Anchorage. Erin manages the company's books, a task she said requires minimal effort.
Brent Howell took business classes in college, and the accountant for Auke Bay Industries will file the laundry's taxes.
Biographical information: Howell was born and raised in Juneau. She graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School in 1999, and attended University of Alaska Southeast for a year and the University of Utah for a year before starting school at University of Alaska Anchorage.
Family: Husband, Brent; dog, Rusty; and many extended family members.
Contact information: The laundry is in the rear of the Squire's Rest building, 11806 Glacier Highway. Brent and Erin Howell can be reached via e-mail at brentanderin@hotmail.com.