How to give away 1,000 winter coats, sizes 2-16, along with boxes of winter pants, hats gloves and other accessories? That’s the challenge Country Ski & Sport (https://www.countryski.com), a third generation, family-owned retailer of ski equipment, clothing and accessories, faced in late October. That’s when local businesses like Lapels Cleaners of Marshfield, and nonprofits like Marshfield Boys & Girls Club stepped up.
“We typically donate coats and other winter accessories to local charities. Last year it was Home for Little Wanderers in Plymouth. This year we made the decision to move more items than usual to make space at our Hanover, MA warehouse for our annual expo on Veteran’s Day,” said Jay Stenson, Country Ski & Sport’s director of marketing and the third generation to work in business, which has locations in Quincy, Hanson and Westwood, Massachusetts.
Continued Stenson, “We reached out to Kimberly Wilkinson because we knew Lapels had conducted clothing drives and thought she could help. Kimberly did that and then some.”
In addition to storing the 1,000 coats and accessories at her 776 Plain Street, Marshfield, MA plant, Wilkinson reached out to her network of non-profits who might be able to disperse the coats. In very short order, all 1,000 coats and accessories found homes.
“As a Marshfield resident, I knew of the good work done by the Boys & Girls Club and started there. They took 100 coats and it snowballed from there,” said Wilkinson, who also owns Lapels Cleaners of Hanover, Lapels Cleaners of Cohasset and Lapels Cleaners of Kingston.
Besides the Marshfield Boys & Girls Club, non-profits who accepted clothing to distribute included Sowing Seeds of Hope of Marshfield, Rolling Wave of Scituate, MA, Carolina Hill Shelter of Marshfield and several others.
“We’re enjoying a mild fall now, but we know how cold New England weather can get,” said Jim Bunnell, CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Marshfield. “Country Ski & Sport’s generosity in donating these coats will be much appreciated by the families we serve.”
Country Ski & Sport has three locations: 161 Quincy Avenue, Quincy, MA; 335 Providence Highway, Westwood, MA; and 901 Winter Street, Hanson, MA. For more information, visit https://www.countryski.com/.
Lapels Cleaners – Environmentally Friendly Cleaners
Each Lapels Cleaners store offers a full slate of services, including dry cleaning; wash, dry & fold; shirt service; tailoring; wedding gown preservation; suede and leather processing; box storage and fur storage.
Lapels Cleaners has received a number of accolades in the franchise world. That includes being ranked again on the 2020 Entrepreneur Franchise 500 list for the country’s top Franchise Systems. Entrepreneur’s “Franchise 500” is the best and most comprehensive rating of franchises in the world and is based on objective, quantifiable measures of a franchise operation. Lapels Cleaners has also been named to Franchise Times Top 200+.
Lapels has also achieved acclaim in the dry cleaning industry. Lapels Cleaners and Clean Brands CEO Kevin Dubois is the co-author of Entrepreneurial Insanity in the Dry Cleaning Business, sold on Amazon.com.
Lapels Cleaners is part of Clean Brands, a franchisor for the largest garment care company on the planet. Clean Brands’ holdings include: Lapels Cleaners (https://mylapels.com/), Martinizing Cleaners (https://www.martinizing.com), 1-800-Dry Clean (https://www.1-800-dryclean.com), and Pressed4Time (https://pressed4time.com).
Clean Brands corporate offices are located at 711 5th Avenue South, Suite 210 in Naples, FL.
To learn more about franchise opportunities with Lapels Cleaners, contact Michael Eisner at [email protected] or 781-829-8780.
About the Boys & Girls Club of Marshfield
The Boys & Girls Club of Marshfield’s mission is to enable and inspire all young people to realize their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens as well as become tomorrow’s capable leaders. The Club provides programming opportunities in the Boys & Girls Club of America’s (BGCA) five core areas including leadership, education, health, arts, and fitness. The Club serves families with children ranging in age from 5 to 18 years old and provides critical services the community needs to support children and families over the short- and long-term. For more information, visit their website www.bgcmarshfield.org or call 781-834-2582.