Commercial Smart Restrooms: Opinion

Smart Restrooms

A smart restroom seems like a silly topic. People use the restroom to use the toilet, shower, bathe, change clothes, and then they’re out. Having a smart restroom, however, is less about what you do in there and more about how your experience is. I know that sounds funky but keep reading.

Walking into commercial restrooms have always been an event for me. I mentally prepare myself before walking in, "I hope it doesn't smell. I hope I won't have to touch the faucet. Please let there be soap in the dispensers. I hope there will be paper towels left." The way public restrooms make people feel stick with them. Example: Walmart is a great place for buying decently priced picture frames, but when I think of their restrooms an image of cold steal and hospital white floors comes to mind. I usually want to get in and out of there as quickly as I can.

Recently, I used a restroom that was one of the nicest I’d ever seen in a Walmart. Warm lighting complemented the mahogany walls and tan stone pictured tiles, the temperature was controlled at a perfect warmth, and the hand dryers worked in seconds—the orchids sitting between each sensor activated sink were the cherry on top. It was a SMART RESTROOM, and  it completely changed the mood of the store for me. That Walmart is now my favorite one to go to. Their picture frames cost just as much as the other Walmart’s, but their bathroom is kept up, clean, and smart, leaving me with a resort like feel and a happier shopping experience.

Commercial smart restrooms say a lot about their company, and they do a lot for their companies too. Increased visits by loyal customers for one; I never want to use a restroom in any other Walmart but that one ever again. If a smart business is something an owner wants to expand on, I recommend starting with a smart restroom.

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​Don’t trust me? Try out a smart bathroom in your home and you’ll understand. Commercial and residential smart restrooms are a little different, only because a residential smart restroom has a lot more options—smart tubs, smart showers, heated toilet seats etc. But any smart change is a good change! As said by Mike Slawson in his article about smart restrooms, “A smart restroom is a smart investment.”

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