SAVAGE, Md. — Gemini Cleaners LLC, a franchisor developing Mulberrys Garment Care locations throughout the United States, recently announced that it has secured its first multi-unit agreement, calling for three locations to open in Northern Virginia between March 2025 and September 2026.
The stores will be operated by Leesburg CBK LLC, a new partnership formed by Brett Vago, Kyo Kim and Carlos Cadenas. Vago and Kim already own Mulberrys Garment Care of Friendship Heights, which opened in Washington, D.C., last December. They also operate five ZIPS Cleaners locations – three in Virginia and two others in Washington, D.C. Cadenas is a partner in their Sterling, Va., ZIPS location, and separately operates three other ZIPS stores in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Gemini is a division of Value Drycleaners of America (VDA), the parent of ZIPS.
“My partners and I are absolutely thrilled to be signing this development deal, which marks a significant milestone in the expansion of the Mulberrys franchise brand on the East Coast,” said Vago. “Since we opened our first Mulberrys location in D.C., customers have been very happy with the service, especially our convenient and free pickup and delivery. This partnership represents an incredible opportunity to bring Mulberrys’ unique dry cleaning and laundry approach further into the DMV market. We’re excited to see the positive impact it will have as we continue to grow and innovate.”
Mulberrys’ services include dry cleaning; wash and fold laundry; pressed laundry; shoe shine and repair; tailoring and alterations; and cleaning of specialty items including leather goods, furs, wedding gowns, rugs, bedding and linens.
Mulberrys and ZIPS are sibling brands under the VDA umbrella. Because of this link, VDA can now offer new and existing franchisees the opportunity to develop territories featuring both ZIPS and Mulberrys locations, with each placed where they believe they will do best in a market.
“We’re seeing increasing interest in both ZIPS and Mulberrys since we aligned our two brands under the VDA umbrella,” says Michael Waintraub, director of business development for both brands. “This is coming both from people outside of our system and from our existing franchisees. Like Brett, Kyo and Carlos, our ZIPS operators see this as a great opportunity to fulfill their development commitments or create new ones, in either case having greater options for answering the demand for garment care in any part of their markets. We’re excited to see these next three locations open and to continue growing both of our systems.”
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