Dry Cleaning Station is the Fastest Growing Dry Cleaning Franchise in the U.S. in 2005 & 2006, According to Entrepreneur Magazine
Once again, Dry Cleaning Station has made the Annual Franchise 500 ranking with Entrepreneur Magazine. The ranking data reveals that Dry Cleaning Station is the No. 1 fastest growing dry cleaning franchise in the U.S. for both 2005 and 2006. Of all dry cleaning franchises, both ranked and unranked, Dry Cleaning Station added the greatest number of new units at 49 stores - basically tripling our size from 2004.
Because of our relatively small size compared to the franchising industry giants, the formula used to rank the Franchise 500 incorporates company size, which puts us at number 440 in all the franchise rankings from a population of over 4000 U.S. franchises.
California Air Review Board (CARB) Declares GreenEarth to be a Safe Alternative Solvent
February 5, 2008
Nobody has higher standards for health and environment safety than California. So when the California Air Review Board (CARB) declares GreenEarth to be a safe alternative solvent, so safe they see “no need to regulate its use,” that's good news. And that's exactly what CARB told its eleven air districts in a letter issued February 5th.
Some of you may be asking, why is that news at all? After all, GreenEarth isn't regulated in any state.
What makes CARB's endorsement important is that it comes after an exhaustive 18 month review of all the health and safety data on D5 silicone solvent. And why is that important? Because even though it has been safely used in consumer products for over 40 years and is one of the most extensively studied and widely used materials there is, back in 2003, liquid silicone underwent much scrutiny after a preliminary result in a Dow Corning study raised a concern about whether it might possibly be linked to cancer. Follow up research later demonstrated the concern to be unfounded. But that news never made headlines. It's understandable, but frustrating.
So it is nice to know that California, the gold standard of health and environmental safety, has affirmed what we have always known, GreenEarth is safe for the planet and for people. We are gratified to see the air cleared on the health and human safety of liquid silicone in GreenEarth's dry cleaning process. CARB's letter to the air districts puts to rest any lingering doubt: "use of D5 (liquid silicone) as an alternative dry cleaning solvent will not pose an adverse health risk to the public."
Forsyth County
2007 Special Environmental Award
Commissioner Richard Linville presenting the Special Environmental Award to Dry Cleaning Station. From left to right: Richard Linville, Forsyth County Board of Commissioners; Peter DeVries, Chairman, Environmental Affairs Board; Bill Patton, Dry Cleaning Station; Gray Patton, Dry Cleaning Station.
The 2007 Special Environmental Award was presented to Bill & Gray Patton of Dry Cleaning Station for investing in environmentally responsible technology, significantly reducing adverse environmental impacts and providing the citizens of Forsyth County a safe dry cleaning alternative.
Fashion Q & A: Tips for Handling Cashmere Clothing With Care
By Jean Patteson
Orlando Sentinnel
How can I get wrinkles out of a cashmere sweater? I'm afraid to use a steamer in case the moisture damages the cashmere. The washing instructions call for dry-cleaning.
Judging by the amount of cashmere in the stores and catalogs this holiday season, a lot of people will soon have cashmere-care questions. The key is to handle the delicate material with care.
Steaming is actually the best way to smooth out the wrinkles in cashmere, which tolerates moisture well. If you don't have a steamer, lay your sweater flat on the ironing board, hold the iron about a half-inch above the garment, and direct bursts of steam from the iron onto the wrinkles. Or place a thin, damp cloth on top of the sweater, then touch up the wrinkles with the iron using extremely light pressure.
If the sweater feels damp after steaming, lay it flat on a thick towel or drying rack to air-dry.
As for the cleaning instructions, keep in mind that manufacturers often recommend dry-cleaning to protect the garment from cases of careless washing. If a cashmere sweater is stained, dry-cleaning is the answer.
Celebrate a Green Earth Day Every Day With Environmental Action
Durham Herald Sun
April 22, 2008 is the official Earth Day
People who care about a cleaner, healthier environment have been celebrating Earth Day for more than 35 years. "Earth Day should be a reminder to us all to be good stewards of the environment every day," said Paul Polinsky, owner of the environmentally friendly Dry Cleaning Station franchise in Loehmann's Plaza.
There are a lot of simple, easy steps and changes people can make that will make a real difference for our environment," Polinsky noted. "Most people know about recycling and carpooling, but there are lots of other things that people can do every day, not just one day a year."
In cooperation with GreenEarth Cleaning, Dry Cleaning Station offers this list of suggestions for people who want to make positive everyday changes to benefit their environment:
No Paper, No Plastic:
Buy and use canvas or net tote bags to carry groceries and other purchases.
Let the Sun Shine On:
Put up a clothesline and dry clothes in the open air when possible to reduce the use of an automatic dryer.
Toss Properly:
Batteries, electronic equipment, paints and household chemicals such as cleaners and pesticides are among the items that should not be put out with the regular trash for landfill disposal. Contac your local environmental organization for information on how to dispose of these materials properly.
Support Your Local Farmer:
When you patronize your local farmer's market, you build support for local agriculture.
Get Insulated:
Reduce energy usage by adding insulation to your home. Wrap your hot water heater and pipes with insulation to save even more energy.
Both Sides Now:
Cut paper use in half by setting all printers and copiers you use, at home and at work, to print on both sides of the paper.
Flow Lightly:
Install plumbing fixtures such as toilets, shower heads and taps that reduce water flow and usage.
Patronize Environmetnally Friendly Businesses:
These include garages that help do-it-yourselfers dispose of waste oil properly; retailers who offer a wide selection of recycled, organic and locally produced products; restaurants that wash and reuse plates and glasses instead of disposables; and businesses that use safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals, such as Dry Cleaning Station, which sources indicate is Durham's only environmentally friendly dry cleaner and launderer.
Pittsburgh Goes Eco Friendly With New Dry Cleaners
Article found at ThePittsburghChannel.com
In a trend that is sweeping the country, there is now earth-friendly dry cleaning, and it's officially arrived in Pittsburgh.
It's been 18 months since the five Dry Cleaning Station stores opened in our region but they already have diehard customers who refuse to go anywhere else.
Frank Fusca owns two franchise locations and the plant, which cleans all the clothes for the local stores.
"It's eco-friendly for your clothes," said Fusca. "Your clothes come out brighter, odorless."
Fusca uses Green Earth, a silicone. The solution is not only better for the planet, it's gentler on your clothes.
He only uses earth-friendly starch, an eco-wash solution, and the leftover water is sent through a filtration system.
University Strikes Gold in Dirty Clothes
October 19, 2007
Joe Pangburn Reporting for Inside Tucson Business
Most teenagers don’t like to do laundry. But Cory Perlson, 19, does about 1,000 pounds of it every day.
The communications sophomore at the University of Arizona, with three UA students as partners, started AZ Laundry two months ago. It provides laundry, folding, and dry cleaning services for the UA community. They are seeing rapid growth.
"I figured if I could get 30 people to sign up for the service, it would be like having a part-time job," Perlson said. "When we quickly climbed over 100 orders I knew we had something."
It didn’t happen by chance though; Perlson and his partners, Turner Binkley, Phil Lauterbach and Stephen Goldstein did their homework.
All wanted to start a business of their own but couldn’t think of a business they could start on campus. At the same time, Perlson’s laundry was building up in his dorm room in the Coronado residence hall.
"I didn’t like using the dorm facilities for my laundry," he said. "But I didn’t have a car to drive to a laundromat either. Then I thought about how many freshmen didn’t have cars either and we realized there was not a pick-up/delivery laundry service on campus."
Over the next few months, the group ironed out some particulars of how the business would be run. Perlson went to a dry cleaning and laundry convention in Las Vegas. Then the partners attended each of the new student orientations at the UA. They gave away T-shirts and pens. Finally, they had 30 volunteers promote the business during freshman move-in week to spread the word and begin taking orders.
Students are able to buy various plans, by the half-semester plans, whole semester, all year long or pay per-wash.
"The pay-per-wash is a way for people to see what the service is like before signing up for a plan," Perlson said.
Within two months of taking orders, Perlson bought a 14-foot box truck for pick-up and delivery and AZ Laundry had amassed more than 220 clients, averaging 1,000 pounds of laundry every day. And they have a 24-hour turnaround.
The unexpected jump in volume made Perlson realize the business needed a place of it’s own.
AZ Laundry signed an agreement with Sparkle Cleaners and now resides in the back of the local chain’s store at 2643 N. Campbell Ave.
In this spot Perlson has a 150 pound washer, a 150 pound dryer, two 35 pound commercial dryers and four employees he hired after putting an ad on craigslist.com.
"It is just amazing to me how far we’ve come in less than one year," Perlson said. "And to think that we did this ourselves is just amazing. Most people work for years to build something of their own. I’m still just 19."
Lauterbach, 19, a business accounting major at the UA helps keep the finances in order.
"I like the challenge of it, it is a good business," Lauterbach said. "It has been great to see the overlap from the classroom to the business. I can ask my professors questions and I have really been able to put what I learn to practical use."
A key to success has been keeping the customer happy.
"When it comes to laundry that means be quick, fold it nicely and don’t lose anything," Perlson said.
To keep track of everything each client is given two bags, one for dry cleaning and one for laundry. Each bag has an individual barcode. When the bags come in, they are scanned and weighed. The weight is deducted automatically from the plan the client has. Each load is separated for lights and darks and washed individually, then folded individually and put back into the washed bags and is ready for delivery that night.
"I’m enjoying it," Lauterbach said. "It is a fast, easy and convenient service to college students. They have a lot on their mind as it is, so one less thing for them to think about and spend time on is great."
"We also have many disabled clients who can’t do laundry on their own," Perlson said. "It is a great service we provide."
When it comes to the laundry business, Perlson has it in his genes. His father and grandfather were both in the business.
"My dad has a 70,000 square foot laundry and dry cleaning business back in New York," he said. "Whether or not he really wanted me to follow in his footsteps, here I go."
Perlson’s father came out to visit recently, and according to Perlson was impressed with what his son had put together.
"That means a lot to me," Perlson said.
Contact Joe Pangburn at or at (520) 295-4259.
Save Your Gown and the Environment: Tips for Cleaning and Storage
October 15, 2007
Susan Wagner Reporting
While you are planning your green wedding, it's easy to overlook the dress as a source of environmental pollution. You might assume that if you are wearing a vintage or borrowed gown, you are doing their part to minimize the environmental impact of the big day. And to a certain extent, you are. But the dress, no matter what its provenance, needs to be cleaned and stored after the wedding, and it's important to think about the footprint you leave there as well.
Most traditional wedding gowns will need to be professionally cleaned and stored. Take the time to find a dry cleaner with experience in wedding gown cleaning and storage. Ask how they will clean the gown, and if they use environmentally friendly processes and chemicals. If you are wearing a vintage gown or a very high end gown, consider using a cleaner that specializes in formal wear. Make a point of interviewing the store manager, to be sure that they are well versed in formal wear storage. Get your dress to a dry cleaners ASAP. Stains and spills will set if the dress sits for too long, and may be impossible to remove. Consider asking a friend or bridesmaid to take the gown in for you, but BEFORE you do that, make arrangements with the dry cleaner. If your gown is heavily beaded, or if it is a vintage piece, you will most likely need to sign a release before it can be cleaned. Either file the release with the cleaners ahead of time, or leave it with the friend who will drop the dress at the cleaners.
Your best bet for environmentally friendly storage is to do it right, and insure that the gown can be worn again by another bride. And then, after your big day is over and your gown is clean and properly packed, either donate or sell the gown, or make sure that friends and family know that it is ready for the next bride to wear.
Find the original article HERE.
Dry Cleaning Station Cleans Rescued Flag
Gettysburg Times
Wednesday, June 30, 2007
Good samaritans like Larry Appel often stop their vehicles to lend assistance: change a flat; find fuel; shuttle to a service station.
Few find themselves in postion to save Old Glory.
"How could they be doing that?" was among Appel's thoughts of shock and awe two months ago after turning off to Route 30 and onto Route 116, headed toward Spring Grove, York County.
Six or seven cars in front of him had driven over an American Flag, battering the nylon national symbol on the roadway.
Appel, a volunteer firefighter and EMT for 30 years, now with the Pleasant Hill Fire Company, and a military father, was outraged.He stopped, turned around, and went to retrieve the Flag.
The wind of the day may be what blew the Flag into that predicament. The breeze also caused Appel to have to chase it down the middle of the highway.
His son, Ryan, 19, is a combat medic with the Pa. National Guard, just shipped to Fort Sam Houston Texas, for a five-month tour.
Appel lives in Plasant Hill, West Manheim Township, and works part time as an on-air personality at AM-1320 WGET in Gettysburg, under the name Jay Lawrence. He is also an emergency room technician at Memorial Hospital in York.
Appel took the Flag to the Dry Cleaning Station in Hanover where Michael Haugh's shop cleaned it at no charge. Haugh, an Army veteran himself, said cleaning Flags for free is the right thing to do.
Appel, 47, dubbed his adventure, "Don't tread on me". The Flag has little chance of wearing treadmarks again. Appel donated the Flag to the Times and News Publising Company in Gettysburg and it flies outside the newspaper and radio offices. He can check on it when Jay Lawrence goes to work there two days a week.
Dry Cleaning Station Featured in Prominent Pittsburgh Health Newsletter
University of Pittsburgh Center for Environmental Oncology featured Dry Cleaning Station in their Spring/Summer 2006 issue of their newsletter. To view the article in its entirety, click here.
The Herald-Sun of Durham, North Carolina Features Dry Cleaning Station in a Recent Article
April 21, 2007
In honor of Earth Day, Dry Cleaning Station and Master Development Agent Paul Polinsky were featured in an article by The Herald-Sun of Durham, North Carolina. Below is the article as published on April 21, 2007.
“We are proud to be a business that people who care about the environment can patronize with confidence,” said Paul Polinsky, owner of Dry Cleaning Station, Durham’s only environmentally friendly dry cleaner and launderer. “Our use of a cleaning process that is non-polluting but effective is better for our community, our customers, our employees and ourselves. We are proof that it is possible to be both ‘clean’ and ‘green’, because our customers prefer the way their clothes look, feel and smell with the GreenEarth Cleaning process.”
GreenEarth Cleaning was created in 1998 by several drycleaners who were looking for a non-polluting alternative to perchlorethylene or “perc”, which drycleaners have been using since the 1930’s. Dry cleaners using the GreenEarth Cleaning process have now earned 12 different environmental awards, including citations from the U.S. EPA and the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“We chose GreenEarth because other alternative solvents are hydrocarbon based, like perc, and are still classified as air-polluting VOCs (volatile organic compounds) Polinsky said. “We wanted to make a full commitment to environmental protection by using the GreenEarth Cleaning process.”
The silicone-based GreenEarth Cleaning solvent is listed as a preferred alternative to ozone-depleting chemicals in the U.S. EPA’s significant New Alternative Policy (SNAP). Because any spill of the GreenEarth Cleaning solvent quickly degrades to sand, water and carbon dioxide, it is not regulated by hazardous waste laws such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Increasing regulatory pressure, concern for soil and water contamination, and other business issues have led many in the industry to search for an alternative to perc. GreenEarth Cleaning developed its patented, environmentally preferred silicone-based process in response to these industry needs and is now making the process available to drycleaners worldwide. More information is available by visiting the GreenEarth Cleaning Web site at http://www.greenearthcleaning.com/.
DCS Franchisees Receive the Gold Level Oklahoma Star Award
Pictured: Tom Keenze receiving the award from Steven Thompson, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, John Allbery, Chief Financial Officer and Co-Founder of Dry Cleaning Station, and Tim Maxwell, President of Green Earth Cleaning.
We want to congratulate Tom and Barbara Keenze of Oklahoma who recently became recipients of the Gold Level Oklahoma Star Award for their Dry Cleaning Station business in Owasso. This award is given in recognition of businesses that achieve and maintain compliance to environmental standards and go beyond regulations to protect the environment and promote environmental safety. The Keenze's commitment to protecting the environment has always been a major factor in their Dry Cleaning Station business and we are proud to have them as franchisees.
DCS Oklahoma Franchisees Make Front Page of Tulsa World Buiness News
From "Green and Clean" by Debbie Blossom, World Staff Writer
January 11, 2006
Tom & Barbara Keenze of Claremore, OK
The January 11, 2006 edition of the Tulsa World Business News featured a front page article about the opening of Tom and Barbara Keenze's Owasso Dry Cleaning Station Plant store. In the article, Tom and Barbara Keenze tell about why they chose to become franchisees of Dry Cleaning Station over other franchises they looked into. "We looked at restaurant franchises, we looked at a number of things," Tom said. "Dry cleaning seemed steady," he said, and Dry Cleaning Station's business philosophy "matched their own."
One of the most important factors the Keenze's took into consideration in making the decision to own a Dry Cleaning Station franchise is the company's commitiment to the environment. Dry Cleaning Station is affiliated with GreenEarth Cleaning, a Kansas City, MO based company which offers a cleaning process using a nontoxic, odor-free, environmentally safe solvent. The solvent's selling points are its gentle impact on clothing and its wide-ranging cleaning abilities, including use on buttons, beading and even leather.
"It leaves materials soft, without any odor and with less wrinkling and stiffness," Barbara Keenze said. "There is no chemical interaction with materials; the solvent just carries a detergent to the clothes and rinses away the dirt and oils it traps," she said.
"What GreenEarth is, is just good for everybody," Tom Keenze said.
Dry Cleaning Station states - and the Keenzes agree - that career minded consumers are more environmentally conscious now as well as pressed for time. They are also looking for quality, value and customer attention beyond the standard.
Small business success tends to come from developing and targeting a specific market, and Dry Cleaning Station has identified that niche.
"They're focused on personal service," Tom Keenze said. "We think their benefits make them a strong offering."
2005 Environmental Excellence Award Winners
Rich Westerberg accepting the City of Chanhassen's Environmental Excellence Award
As nearly everyone can tell you, the dry cleaning business is generally not thought to be environmentally friendly. Dry Cleaning Station (DCS) decided that they could do something about that. This innovative dry cleaning business uses GreenEarth solvents in their cleaning process. These solvents are environmentally-friendly, non-hazardous and cleans clothes as well as the more damaging products commonly used in the industry. They have also implemented company-wide recycling of their cardboard boxes, accept hangers brought to them by customers and use dry cleaning bags made from recycled plastic. Thanks to DCS, Chanhassen residents have a local alternative for environmentally-friendly dry cleaning.
"The Platinum 200"
Income Opportunities Magazine
March/April 2000
Dry Cleaning Station ranked #97 in the Platinum 200 List.
Dry Cleaning Station's franchise fee is $22,500. Royalty fees are calculated on a declining scale, starting out at 5% of sales and decreasing to 1% of sales as a franchisee's locations and revenues increase. In other words, the more you make, the more you keep. Start-up costs are $200,000+.
Dry Cleaning Station received two stars for its future growth rate based upon past growth, three stars for its franchise relations (a key indicator of how much a company encourages its franchisees to actively participate in the operation of the entire system), three stars for its communication methods with franchisees, and three stars for its variety of start-up and ongoing support services (a critical indicator of whether a company emphasizes its franchisee's success and whether franchisees receive good value from the company in return for their investment).
"Best Franchises in America"
Success Magazine
October 2000 Dry Cleaning Station was awarded the 100th position in the Franchise Gold 200 issue of America's Top Franchises. This award is given to the franchisors who are considered the best ranked by the following:
- Financial Performance
- Corporate Management, Growth and Stability
- Franchisor/Franchisee Relationship
- Opportunities for Growth
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