Content about retail

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kite’s opened the stand-alone plant in 2003 after moving from a retail-shopping strip. The lobby was recently remodeled into a more open design for easier and quicker customer interaction. A separate wedding-gown lobby showcases specialized services. A drive-up window and a 24-hour drop box serve hurried clients.

The 24,000-square-foot plant also consists of offices, tailoring shop, production area, break area, and warehouse. Relocating to such a large building gives production staff a more comfortable work area and enables easier maintenance access to equipment.

Kite’s utilizes two Realstar DF-2000 drycleaning machines, Marvel washer-extractor, Wascomat wetcleaning system, and UniMac washer-extractors. Finishing is accomplished with equipment from Unipress, Forenta, Sankosha, Hi-Steam, Fima and Cissell, with an emphasis on newer tensioning methods.

LAUREL, Md. — The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute recently graduated its 353rd Advanced Drycleaning Course class, consisting of eight students.

The course covered advanced aspects of running a dry cleaning business. Students learned the finer points of cleaning, finishing, stain removal, cleaning wedding gowns, and much more.

DLI has been the premier international trade association for garment care professionals since 1883, representing retail dry cleaning and laundry facilities in the United States and around the world. DLI’s School of Drycleaning Technology has offered education on dry cleaning since 1927.

Visit www.ifi.org for more information on DLI and its classes.

WASHINGTON — The Henry Hub spot price for natural gas averaged $3.56 per MMBtu in October, 34 cents lower than the September average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook report released Nov. 8.

This month’s Outlook lowers the 2011 forecast by 6 cents to $4.09 per MMBtu and lowers the 2012 forecast by 19 cents to $4.13 per MMBtu compared with last month’s report.

Even while the delivered cost of natural gas continues to decline, EIA expects the cost of coal delivered to electric generators to increase by 6.4% during 2011. The net effect will be relatively modest growth in retail electricity prices over the forecast horizon, the report says.

For route drivers, EIA forecasts that the annual average regular-grade gasoline retail price, which averaged $2.78 per gallon in 2010, will increase to an average of $3.54 per gallon in 2011, before declining to an average $3.46 per gallon in 2012. The agency expects that on-highway diesel fuel retail prices, which averaged $2.99 per gallon in 2010, will average $3.84 per gallon in 2011 and $3.79 per gallon in 2012.

CHICAGO — The decline of Blockbuster’s DVD rental business that led to bankruptcy and the closure of hundreds of its brick-and-mortar stores across the country last year is a wake-up call for drycleaners, warns “The Route Pro” James Peuster.

Why? Because drycleaning and Blockbuster have something in common: it’s necessary to make two trips for service.

“You rent a movie, you go home, you return it next time,” he says. “You drop off clothes, go home, you pick them back up. Very few retail situations require two trips for service. This is why routes are now essential.”

But the drycleaner who is considering starting route service better be serious about it, Peuster says, because not being fully invested in the effort can create more headaches than they’re worth.

For 10 years, Peuster has been an “on- and off-site coach, specifically for routes.” The goal of his consulting business is “to make sure people do routes right, or not at all.”

WASHINGTON — The Henry Hub spot price averaged $4.05 per MMBtu in August, 37 cents lower than the July average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Short-Term Energy Outlook report. This month’s report lowers the 2011 forecast by 4 cents to $4.20 per MMBtu and lowers the 2012 forecast by 11 cents to $4.30 per MMBtu, the report says.

Part of this downturn is due to natural gas consumption for electric power generation falling from 29.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in July to 29.2 Bcf/d in August, as July’s extreme temperatures eased, EIA says. Still, the administration expects that total natural gas consumption will grow by 1.8% to 67.3 Bcf/d in 2011.

GREENBELT, Md. — ZIPS, a Mid-Atlantic drycleaning franchise with more than 28 locations along the East Coast, has propelled its regional expansion plans via the signing of a 20-unit development deal.

The multi-unit deal was signed with Pilgrimage Development LLC, a Maryland-based investment and retail development group.

The agreement’s first location is slated to open in August in Pasadena, Md., and additional units planned for Greater Baltimore and Glen Burnie, Md., will open in second-quarter 2012.

WASHINGTON — The prices for natural gas and electricity remain stable, while regular-grade gasoline continues to climb, according to the most recent U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) short-term energy outlook.

Natural gas working inventories ended March 2011 at 1.6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), slightly below the 2010 end-of-March level. EIA expects that working gas inventories will remain relatively high throughout 2011.

CHICAGO — It’s that time of year again. You know the drill: Your accountant or tax preparer does the calculating; you write the checks. But this year, don’t just comply with his instructions—make the exercise a learning experience. Here’s how.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you’re considering adding a new location, now may be the time, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Commercial real estate sectors, hurt by weak job growth, are offering incentives in many areas that are conducive to business expansion.

One reason entrepreneurs enter the drycleaning industry is to build meaningful businesses that grow into bigger and better enterprises. Add the freedom of “doing it your way and getting paid for it,” and they have a powerful motivator to take the risks.

Then, the reality strikes that things don’t always go exactly as planned. Since costs rarely shrink or go away, they try to hedge their bets by finding new ways to boost revenues. The logical solution is to sell more, but cleaning is, unfortunately, a need-based business.

How well do you know your community? The knowledge is invaluable to a business — it can’t be bought or sold. It provides you with one of the most valuable competitive advantages you can have. How do you use this knowledge on a daily basis?

Some in the industry think that retail drycleaning is mostly a real-estate venture: Picking the right neighborhoods, and the right locations, and the right drive-thru buildings nearly guarantees success.

CHICAGO — Drycleaners are offering a variety of commercial services, according to the most recent survey appearing in the Wire, American Drycleaner’s e-mail newsletter. And one-quarter (25.9%) of respondents say they’re planning to go after more hotel, restaurant, uniform and other commercial work soon.