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SCHENECTADY
Dry cleaning chain seeks protection
Former KEM company facing financial troubles
BY JAMES SCHLETT Gazette Reporter

    Upstate’s largest dry cleaning chain is seeking a bankruptcy court’s protection — six months after the company embarked on a quarter-million-dollar campaign to become a more environmentally friendly company.
    Greener Cleaners — formerly KEM Cleaners — filed Friday for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The Schenectady-based chain cited $1.15 million in liabilities and $647,276 in assets.
    The 57-year-old chain last spring attempted to reinvent itself by investing $250,000 in R.R. Street & Co.’s Solvair cleaning system, which cleans clothes with biodegradable cleaning fluid and dries them with liquid carbon dioxide instead of heat.
    The installment of that equipment at the chain’s State Street headquarters prompted its name change from KEM Cleaners to Green Cleaners. The chain leases space for its 14 retail outlets and headquarters.
    Greener was the sixth dry cleaner in the nation to use R.R. Street’s cleaning system. The Schenectady chain hoped would boost business by attracting environmentally conscious consumers.
    At the time of the moniker change in June, Greener employed 75 companywide, including 35 at its main State Street facility. Clothes dropped off at all of Greener’s retail outlets are cleaned at its Schenectady headquarters.
    The bankruptcy case’s largest secured creditor is KeyBank National Association, which has a $300,000 claim.
    David Siegal, Greener’s co-owner who holds 50 percent of its stock, is the case’s largest unsecured creditor. He has a $522,800 claim, which includes a $250,000 loan for the Solvair system. Benson Seidman Living Trust, the San Diego firm that holds the rest of Greener’s stock, has a $98,200 unsecured claim.
    Greener in its bankruptcy petition reported operating losses of $509,200 for last year and $160,200 for 2006.
    The chain last year closed its Erie Boulevard and................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00403

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Best Cleaners has had positive growth over the last year.  Mostly due to our expansion of complimentary home pick-up and delivery.
http://www.lookyourbest.com

Tim McCann
President & COO
Best Cleaners

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SCHENECTADY — The former Kem Cleaners, now called Greener Cleaners, is closing three of its stores this month while the company downsizes as part of a Chapter 11 reorganization plan.

     
Greener's Wilton store at The Shops at Wilton on Route 50 closed last Friday, and the Malta Commons store is scheduled to close this Friday, said CEO B. Robert Joel.

The Niskayuna location at St. James Square, which had moved from its former spot on upper Union Street, is to close on Friday, Jan. 30.

With those closures, nine stores will remain in business, Joel said. The regional chain retains its corporate headquarters and central cleaning plant at 809 State St. in Schenectady.

A Scotia store on Mohawk Avenue closed in December, and shops in downtown Schenectady, East Greenbush and Rexford also have closed within the last two years.