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August 30, 2012
The Numbers: Signs of Slight Economic Expansion, but Consumer Confidence Slips

CHICAGO — Non-manufacturing sector shows growth for 31st consecutive month

CHICAGO — THE LATEST BEIGE BOOK REPORT, compiled by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System with data from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts, shows that the U.S. economy continued to expand slightly in June and early July. Eleven districts noted expanding economic activity.

Early August brought news that the current administration had awarded $9 million in the multi-agency Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge. The program is designed to spur job and economic growth in rural regions. Economic development partnerships and initiatives in a dozen states—Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia—will receive awards. Last year’s winners generated millions in matching funds, and their projects are expected to create thousands of new jobs and hundreds of new businesses, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

April 4, 2012
Thum Elected President of Southwest Drycleaners Association

SAN ANTONIO — Richard Thum, co-founder and president of Five Star Cleaners, was recently elected president of The Southwest Drycleaners Association (SDA)

SAN ANTONIO — Richard Thum, co-founder and president of Five Star Cleaners, was recently elected president of The Southwest Drycleaners Association (SDA) at its annual convention.

The regional trade association, with more than 300 members, is an affiliate of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI). The 96-year-old association serves the professional dry cleaners of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Thum served as first vice president of the organization last year, and has served on the SDA board in various capacities for 28 years.

He launched Comet Cleaners in San Antonio in 1981 along with his wife, Sharlene, and the name was changed to Five Star Cleaners in 2004. The Thums own 11 locations across San Antonio.

Thum holds a bachelor of science degree in real estate finance from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and has a real estate broker’s license in Texas.

August 26, 2011
GreenEarth Affiliate Workshop — Kansas City, Mo.

GreenEarth Affiliate Workshop. To be held at GreenEarth Cleaning, 51W 135th Street, Kansas City, Mo.  Call 816-926-0895 ext. 206 or e-mail kmaxwell@greenearthcleaning.com.

June 8, 2011
2012 Cleaners Showcase

The largest industry trade show in the Southwest hosted by the Southwest Drycleaners Association, representing the professional cleaners in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. To be held March 30-April 1, 2012, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas. Call 888-732-2567 or e-mail karen.sda@sbcglobal.net for more information.

May 5, 2011
Inside Tide

P&G’s new Tide-brand plants could be the wave of the future, if franchise operators can keep the consumer experience fresh.

LEAWOOD, Kan. — Procter & Gamble, maker of America’s best-selling laundry detergent, is now in the drycleaning business. The company picked the Kansas City suburb of Leawood, Kan., as the location for its flagship Tide plant, which won a Merit Award in this magazine’s 2009 Plant Design Awards.

March 16, 2010
FRSTeam's Fast Growth Attracts Attention

HAYWARD, Calif. — The nationwide restoration franchise FRSTeam (Fabric Restoration Service Team) has received multiple acknowledgements for its recent growth, including listings in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 and Top 30 New Franchises, Franchise Times' Fast 55, and Franchise Business Review's 2010 Franchisee Satisfaction Awards.

September 8, 2008
P&G Teams with GreenEarth for Tide Stores

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Detergent and consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble will team with GreenEarth Cleaning to open three Tide-branded drycleaning stores in the Kansas City metro area this month.

Testing the market for branded, “environmentally friendly” drycleaning services, P&G says it will work with an existing operator to convert two plants to the Tide Dry Cleaners flag, and build one new store. P&G plans to test various wetcleaning processes and dryclean exclusively with GreenEarth.

September 8, 2008
P&G Teams with GreenEarth for Tide Stores

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Detergent and consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble will team with GreenEarth Cleaning to open three Tide-branded drycleaning stores in the Kansas City metro area this month.

Testing the market for branded, “environmentally friendly” drycleaning services, P&G says it will work with an existing operator to convert two plants to the Tide Dry Cleaners flag, and build one new store. P&G plans to test various wetcleaning processes and dryclean exclusively with GreenEarth.

August 11, 2008
National Dry Cleaners Files for Bankruptcy Protection

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — National Dry Cleaners Inc., the largest group of affiliated drycleaners in the United States with 231 stores in nine states, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Its assets will be liquidated.

July 25, 2008
Alikes & Dislikes: Comparing the Coin Laundry Industry to Drycleaning

CHICAGO — Drycleaners know this isn’t a good year for business. Most news stories today focus on the struggling economy and rising gasoline prices, while operators deal with lower piececounts and bigger utility bills.

For coin-operated laundry owners, the story is the same. Operators are dealing with rising utility costs in an industry that’s just as dependent on steam heat as drycleaning.

November 7, 2007
Barton Solvents Focuses on Recovery

DES MOINES, Iowa — Since a massive explosion and fire destroyed an Iowa warehouse, and loading dock last Monday, chemical supplier Barton Solvents is focusing on recovery.

The fire took local firefighters 11 hours to contain last week, and debris was still smoldering several days later. A preliminary review indicates that static electricity sparked an explosion of ethyl acetate, which has an extremely low flashpoint. Barton’s Valley Center, Kan., fire earlier this year is thought to have been ignited by a drycleaning solvent.

October 31, 2007
Barton Solvents Suffers Second Explosion

DES MOINES, Iowa — Barton Solvents, a supplier of drycleaning solvents and other chemicals, suffered a massive explosion and fire at its plant outside Des Moines on Monday. The explosion is the company’s second this year.

Reported at 1:15 p.m., the fire continued for several hours as 55-gallon drums and 300-gallon tanks exploded to feed the flames. Fire departments throughout the Des Moines metro area responded to the fire, but often had to keep their distance due to successive blasts. The fire was mostly contained by 10:00 p.m.