When it came to cleaning clothes, Ulrich Reumann didn’t know much just a few years ago.
With a finance background, though, he was interested in buying a franchise and settled on OXXO Care Cleaners, a dry cleaning store that prides itself on environmentally friendly cleaning, hand-ironing and 24-hour drop-off and pickup access.
Husband and wife duo Henry Clay Gregory and Trina Byrd started looking into the business in the beginning of 2006 and talked with Reumann about joining as a manager and part-owner in summer 2006.
The three opened a store in Eastern Market in February and another in Columbia Heights the following month. Since then, they have built a client base of about 200 regular customers in Eastern Market and 250 in Columbia Heights, with a goal of reaching 400 at each location by summer 2008.
The franchise uses Green Earth, a solvent that has tiny grains of sand that remove stains.
Green Earth is a “reliable solvent” that is comparable to other dry cleaning solvents, said Jay Calleja, director of communications at the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute in Laurel, which ran tests on different solvents.
The silicon-based solvent gives clothes a “softer, nicer feel” and “holds the color of a garment longer,” but it’s not “as aggressive a cleaning solvent as others,” said Joseph Hallak Jr., vice president of New York couture cleaners Hallak Cleaners and president of the National Cleaners Association.
Instead of pickup and delivery service, OXXO has 24/7 ATM-like systems outside its facilities that allow customers to drop off clothes and pick them up using a swipe card.
Calleja hasn’t heard of many cleaners that offer the automated garment access machine, which he says costs more than $50,000.
Cleaning with Green Earth and hand-ironing the clothes increases the costs slightly; OXXO charges $4.95 per piece per suit and $2.25 for men’s and women’s shirts.
“We’re looking for the young, executive-professional customer” with an income of at least $70,000, Reumann said. “I think that people are really willing to pay if they get the quality,” he said.
But the concept of Green Earth alone will “not make you successful,” said Hallak, who added that someone who doesn’t have a cleaning background is “at risk” because there are enough people in the industry who do.
The dry cleaning market is also “oversaturated” at the moment, which is starting to affect lower-end cleaners, Hallak said.
