Today we’d like to introduce you to Rafiq Karimi Jr.
Rafiq, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
At CD One Price Cleaners, we totally reengineered the traditional approach to cleaning. We were the first to introduce the one-price concept in Chicago in 2001. Today, we have over 34 stores across Chicagoland offering dry cleaning, wash & fold laundry, and many other cleaning services. What makes us different than our competition is our signature Better Way – always free same-day service (in by 10 AM, ready by 5 PM), value-based pricing (dry cleaning any garment is just $3.29), email ready alerts, and free gourmet coffee. Chicago is our home, but to continue to grow, we’ve been expanding to other cities in the Midwest such as St. Louis and Minneapolis.
It all began in 1984 when my brother and I took our first job in the dry-cleaning industry in Houston, Texas. In 1989, we had an opportunity to purchase an existing store in Houston. Then in 1993, we opened a one-price cleaning concept in that area. We opened our first CD One store in the Chicago area in 2001. Since that time, we have worked in virtually every aspect of dry cleaning, from site selection and store design to dry clean operations, equipment refurbishment and distribution, with a vision to create a ground-breaking business model. In 2006 with a business model that was uniquely efficient and well accepted by customers, we began franchising and today we have 36 stores in the Midwest.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The first couple years after opening the first store in Chicago were extremely challenging. Unlike many businesses that struggle to develop their customer base and niche in the early years, we had the opposite problem. While we were trying to build new stores, the stores that we had recently opened were overwhelmed with customers, which led to operational problems and disappointments for some customers. The explosive growth was “good news” and “bad news”. While it proved, there was a market for our unique business model, it also provided frustration and confusion for some employees and customers. Fortunately, we were able to acquire the talent necessary to build an infrastructure that was eventually strong enough to support the continuing sales growth. Today, many of the same individuals remain with the company and are a part of an expanded infrastructure with a solid support staff team.
CD One Price Cleaners – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our business model is rather unique in the industry and while a few competitors have replicated one or two elements of our model, none have all the features that set us apart:
• Simple value pricing significantly below most quality competitors
• Uniformed highly trained personnel
• All dry cleaning and laundry operations done on site and viewable to the customer
• Same day Service at no extra charge
• Email notification to customer upon completion of order
• Customer-centric atmosphere including complementary gourmet coffee, music and a friendly spirit.
• A customer feedback system called Net Promoter Score that garners over 300 responses each week.
We are very proud that our performance as ranked by the Net Promoter Score meets and in many cases, exceeds some very well-known and respected quality brands such as: Southwest Airlines, Amazon, Apple and Nordstrom. Listening to our customers has proven very rewarding as the average volume of our stores is estimated to be approximately 4 times greater than the industry average. We are very proud of the employees and franchise owners that have brought this success to our brand.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moments have come as I have seen our employees grow in their positions and develop into a strong team, as well as, seeing our franchise owners become very successful entrepreneurs.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2205 W Enterprise Dr Suite 502
- Website: cdonepricecleaners.com
- Phone: (888) 253-2613
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cd1pricecleaners/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cdonepricecleaners/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CDOnePrice
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