The finished Tide Dry Cleaners at The Arbors will look like this.

Henry and David Atkins have developed commercial real estate for many years. Even so, Henry Atkins is excited about their University City project: the state’s first Tide Dry Cleaners. The stone-trimmed building at The Arbors on Mallard Creek Church Road will house what Tide believes is a major advancement in dry cleaning. “The concept has many positive features for customers that give it the potential to differentiate Tide stores from any other dry cleaners,” Atkins says.

Procter & Gamble seeks to create the first nationwide chain of dry cleaners by offering Tide’s 60 years of fabric-care experience, an environmentally safer cleaning technology called GreenEarth, and concierge services to meet customers’ needs.

“We our focused on changing the dry-cleaning industry for good through our many unique offerings,” said Andrew Gibson, Tide Dry Cleaners Brand Manager. Those services will include access to the “Tide Dry Cleaners Anytime” offering, which allows 24-hour pick-up and drop-off. The building also has a covered drive-through area.

Tide Dry Cleaners offer drive-through service

Through its partnership with GreenEarth, and utilization of Tide fabric care cleaning solutions for wet and dry cleaning, Tide Dry Cleaners offer cleaning technology to care for a range of garments and textiles. The GreenEarth Cleaning system employs a form of liquid silicone that is found in personal-care products ranging from shampoo to lotions. GreenEarth technology is licensed to more than 1,300 dry cleaners worldwide.

The Atkins brothers have formed Carolina Fresh, LLC, and will operate the store as a franchisee. Atkins said that the Mallard Creek store should be ready to open in mid- to late January. A store manager is in training, and hiring will start soon for other positions.

“We’re proud to be affiliated with Procter & Gamble. It is one of the preeminent companies in the world, and Tide is one of the most recognized brands anywhere,” Henry Atkins said.

He’s equally positive about the store’s location – close to thousands of workers in University Research Park, strong retail like Trader Joe’s and several thousand affluent residential neighbors. “The University area has been growing and is a very vibrant market,” Atkins said. “We hope that with the high-quality building we have designed and our commitment to satisfying the customer’s needs that we will be a contributor to the University area’s continuing success.”

Learn more about:

• Tide Dry Cleaners and franchising opportunities at tidedrycleaners.com
• GreenEarth Cleaning at  greenearthcleaning.com