A popular YouTube family decorated its new business with Christmas decorations to celebrate the holiday season — and it might be the brightest building in all of Newark.
Smile More Laundry and Tan, 169 S. 30th St., has been hard to miss in recent weeks. It’s decorated front to back with lights, with a trio of Christmas tree structures sitting on the roof.
The holiday makeover comes months after Roman Atwood, a YouTube personality with more than 15 million subscribers across all his channels, and his family bought the facility, opening it as a laundry and tanning business.
Atwood’s family — wife Brittney and three children — regularly feature on some of the videos, particularly their vlog channel that has amassed nearly 500,000 subscribers and 95 million views.
Roman, who was born in Millersport, spent some of the early part of his content-creating career performing pranks for his YouTube channel, helping him accumulate millions of subscribers.
In a May video, the couple shared some details about their laundromat purchase, including their plans for the space and the inspiration behind it.
“I want to show you these things to show you they’re attainable and open your mind on ways to make money,” Atwood said in the video. “There’s so many ways.”
The couple bought the building for $450,000 from Randall Levengood, property transfer records show. Atwood is listed as the registered agent for Smile More Laundry, according to Ohio business records.
Levengood owned and operated Colonial Laundry before the Atwoods rebranded the facility to Smile More, a merchandise brand Roman founded in 2013.
In a Facebook post, Brittney wrote that she knew Levengood growing up and said she’s had the “pleasure of calling him dad” since age 12 while being friends with his daughter.
After the Atwoods purchased a car wash in Buckeye Lake, Levengood urged them to purchase the laundromat, she wrote.
Dozens of fans of the Atwoods, if not hundreds, showed up to a September meet and greet at the laundromat. A person said they came from Boston to see them.
Some more fans in recent weeks have stopped by the building to take photos of the lights after the couple and their team completed installing them last month.
“I guarantee there’s never been a laundromat in history with more Christmas lights than what we’re about to do,” Roman said in a November video. “One week from now, hopefully less, you might be able to see it from your house. Just look at the beam of light coming off the Earth.”
Advocate reporter Josué Perez can be reached at jhperez@newarkadvocate.com.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Roman Atwood gets festive with his family’s new business in Newark