Zoots acquires cleaners in Ohio, plans to
continue expansion
Zoots is
continuing its expansion in the state of Ohio.
The large drycleaning chain recently
purchased Prime Valet, a drycleaning business with five retail
stores and four home delivery routes that has served the
Cincinnati area for the past 15 years.
Prime Valet stores will now operate under
the business name of Widmer’s, which Zoots bought back in
1999. Widmer’s has 16 stores and 16 routes in the
Cincinnati area for Zoots.
“We’re accelerating our growth
by adding acquisitions to supplement our new store and route
openings,” said Zoots CEO Jim McManus. “We’re
becoming very good at quickly evaluating and completing these
transactions with a process that works both for the seller and
for us.”
Prime Valet’s owner, Paul
Szydlowski, was also pleased with the business agreement.
“Widmer’s has been the
standard against which we judged ourselves the past fifteen
years,” he said. “From all the partners I
considered, I felt that Zoots and its Widmer’s chain were
in the best position to take this market to the next level of
performance and profitability.”
Zoots has made several other acquisitions
in recent months, as well. The chain, which was founded in 1998
by Staples creators Tom Stemberg and Todd Krasnow, has already
bolstered the size of its operations by adding high volume
stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as six large
home delivery routes in Connecticut and northern New Jersey.
Altogether, Zoots encompasses ten states
with 54 retail drycleaning locations and 150 pickup and
delivery routes.
The company has been voted Best Dry
Cleaner in over 50 Readers Choice Awards.
IDLA recruits Slatten for seminar in Notre
Dame
Cleaners can learn how to improve their
overall quality and enhance customer loyalty at a December 4
seminar in Notre Dame, IN.
Cowboy cleaner Kenney Slatten of the
Kenney Slatten Training Company will be present to offer live
spotting board demonstrations; attendees are encouraged to
bring in their own problem garments.
The seminar will be held at St.
Michael’s Laundry University of Notre Dame, located at
100 St. Michael’s Laundry.
The Saturday session will begin at 8 a.m.
with a half hour tour of the facility, followed by three hours
of basic and advanced stain removal.
After lunch, the topic of garment
finishing will be examined between 1 and 3 p.m. The day will
conclude with a two-hour reception beginning at 5 p.m.
Registration costs are $50 for the first
IDLA members, and $35 for each additional member from the same
plant. Each first non-member pays $75 while each additional
non-member from the same plant pays $60.
A box lunch will be provided but attendees
should register prior to Nov. 27 to guarantee one.
For more information, contact the Indiana
Drycleaning & Laundry Association by calling (800) 401-0703
or visit them online at www.indianafabricare.org.
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