National Clothesline

Judging from the booth sales for the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association’s Expo 2006, the event appears destined for success.

Of course, that is very appropriate since the event’s theme is “The Shore Road to Success.”

Though the event won’t take place until September 16 and 17 at the Atlantic City Convention Center, already more than two-thirds of the planned exhibit space has been sold.

The exhibits will feature products from more than 75 companies.

In addition to the products and technologies on display, PDCA will also offer seminars that will focus on ways to increase profits in all aspects of the clothing care industry. Energy savings and environmental progress through technology and good practices are among the things that will be emphasized.

“The theme of the show, “The Shore Road to Success,” reflects the optimism we all feel about this event,” noted Mark Pollock, convention chairman.

“The program is almost completed and will again be full of great ideas and innovations,” he added. “And we hope everyone will take advantage of the opportunities for networking and fun at the show and afterwards in Atlantic City.”

Atlantic City is an excellent venue as the city has expanded its entertainment, dining and shopping attractions in order to widen its appeal to visitors. The major shopping area between the convention headquarters (the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center) and the Boardwalk has proved to be a huge attraction and a booming success.

The hotel is located across the street from the convention center and rooms can be reserved directly from PDCA’s own web site, www.pdclean.org or by calling the hotel at (609) 344-3535.

For more information on the show, see PDCA’s web site or contact the association’s office at (800) 822-7352.

With the size of its headquarters becoming an issue, Bergmann’s Cleaning recently opted to move its main location in Alrington, VA to Loudoun County.

The 90-year-old company, which has a few dozen locations altogether in Virginia and Maryland, left its 2-acre site between Lee Highway and Interstate 66 available for lease.

“We no longer can continue to run a drycleaning operation here,” Jeff Bergmann, the company’s executive vice president, explained to the Washington Business Journal. “The plant’s become too big.”

The Arlington property included a 48,000 sq. ft. building and several adjacent houses. The facility had been the sole production plant for Bergmann’s since 1984, when the company closed its plant on Sixth Street NW.

The company’s new building is located at Northpointe Industrial Park near Dulles International Airport. It will be 28,000 sq. ft. and feature a $700,000 commercial-laundry tunnel washer.

Bergmann’s is now in its fourth-generation of family ownership. Overall, the company staffs over 150 employees. It was originally founded by W.C. Bergmann in 1917.

Four years ago, the current family ownership struck a deal to locate retail outlets in Safeway grocery stores throughout the region. It now has about 35 such location in operation.

For more information about the company, visit its web site at www.bergmanns.com.