On Saturday, Lapels Dry Cleaning, a Massachusetts-based national chain of environmentally-friendly dry cleaners, will open a store and cleaning plant in Rochester Hills along with a satellite storefront in West Bloomfield Township. More than a dozen additional outlets are planned throughout the region.
The company uses a more eco-friendly, non-toxic dry cleaning process that has no odor and is gentler on clothing, says Kevin Dubois, president and CEO of Lapels Dry Cleaning.
“It’s something that we started in 1999 before it was hip and cool to be environmentally friendly,” Dubois says. “We thought there was a better way to clean clothes, and today we use the world’s only non-hazardous solvent. It breaks down naturally to sand and water — it’s a liquid silicone — and that’s very different than what all other dry cleaners are using.”
Dubois says Lapels Dry Cleaning, to be located at 3038 S. Rochester Rd. in Rochester Hills and at 6552 Orchard Lake Rd. in West Bloomfield, offers services such as same-day dry cleaning, tailoring, shoe repair, wedding gown preservation, and fur storage, among other services.
“In Rochester Hills, (Lapels Dry Cleaning) has a great location that’s right across from a Meijer store and is next to a new Starbucks — those are both really good feeders for us,” Dubois says.
He says he expects a third location to open in Birmingham, with 16 more stores planned for metro Detroit in the next 36 months. Lapels Dry Cleaning has stores in Arizona, Ohio, South Carolina, and Mississippi, among others.
