AUSTIN, Texas — ZIPS Cleaners has recently opened a new location in Austin, Texas, operated by multi-unit franchisee Jason Frick.
The 1,732-square-foot “drop store,” located at 3421 West William Cannon Drive, will have an on-site tailor and counter staff who will receive and return items to customers. Items dropped off for dry cleaning or laundering will be processed at a nearby fully equipped ZIPS location.
This “hub-and-spoke” arrangement represents an expansion strategy that ZIPS is implementing throughout the country. It allows franchisees to add locations within their existing markets, the company says, without the larger space or equipment requirements of a full-service plant, while also enabling them to leverage the equipment and staff they’ve already installed at existing sites. At the same time, the model allows others interested in entering the garment care business to do so with lower upfront and ongoing operating costs.
“We are continuously exploring ways to bring our highly demanded services into new communities and closer to existing customers,” says Bob Barry, president/CEO of ZIPS. “Our full-service plant/drop store model achieves this by letting growth-minded franchisees like Jason maximize use of their assets, review a broader selection of available real estate in which to open new stores, and, if desired, align with new partners to open more locations sooner. We are excited to see this strategy working so successfully in Austin and look forward to deploying it in many more markets where our brand has room to grow.”
This is the fourth Austin store for Frick, who opened his first site at 1803 S. Lamar Blvd. in early 2017 followed by locations at 2510 W. Parmer Lane in mid-2018 and 8105 Burnet Road in mid-2020. Frick partnered with new franchisees Jake Malishkevich and Alex Shuster to open the latest location and will soon open a second drop store with them in Round Rock, just north of Austin. Construction on that unit, located in the Randalls Shopping Center at A.W. Grimes Blvd. and Gattis School Rd., has already commenced.
“After we opened our first location on S. Lamar Blvd., even though we opened two other locations further north in Austin, we received many requests to open another location further south,” says Frick. “This new location is very well-known and heavily travelled, so we’re very convenient both to residents of and commuters to the area. With today’s opening, we have taken another step toward answering that demand and allowing the full Austin market to take advantage of our low-cost, quick-return services,” said Frick.
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