SAVAGE, Md. — RR2 Clean Raleigh LLC, a franchisee for the ZIPS Cleaners chain, recently announced it is seeking an operating partner to invest in development of locations throughout Wake County, Durham County and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Principals Ron and Rose Cappello are now entertaining offers to participate in the build out and operation of 10 stores to capitalize on estimated demand for low-cost, quick-turnaround garment care.
The Cappellos moved to Apex, North Carolina, from Pennsylvania in 2018. Ron, a ZIPS customer and experienced commercial real estate broker/investor with a background in retail, immediately saw a need for the same-day garment care services in which ZIPS specializes.
“We couldn’t find anything like that down here, so we contacted ZIPS. After extensive, months-long research into the industry, the ZIPS program and this market, we eagerly signed on as franchisees,” Ron Cappello says. “Unfortunately, other personal commitments have spread us too thin to develop the stores on our own, so we’re seeking an investor to join us in building and operating them, or to assume our agreement with ZIPS and complete it themselves.”
The demand for quick-turnaround garment care is on the rise in Raleigh/Durham, Ron Cappello believes, as major companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft establish a presence in the area and others including Meta consider joining them.
“We’re seeing growth here at an alarming rate,” he says. “That means more people needing a reliable, affordable and convenient way to care for their garments. Regardless of what they’re wearing or where they’re wearing it, people from all walks of life here need a reliable resource like ZIPS.”
Development in Raleigh/Durham will consist of full-service plants housing all equipment and processing all garments on-site as well as satellite locations where items are dropped off and then transferred to a nearby plant, processed and returned under the same pricing and processing schedules as at full-service ZIPS locations.
The Cappellos are reviewing vacant existing spaces and non-ZIPS garment care sites in the area to further expedite and lower the cost of opening sites.
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