Nearly four decades after his father opened the first Martinizing Dry Cleaning location in Tucson, Ariz., William “Bake” Shaffer is taking his family’s Martinizing franchise independent. Over the next several weeks, the Martinizing signs at his nine locations will be replaced with signs that say Shaffer Dry Cleaning & Laundry.
Shaffer said he didn’t want to expand at the pace the Cincinnati-based chain was demanding – eight new stores over the next 15 years. Also, he said, after spending most of his working life in dry cleaning, “I don’t need my hand held.”
Shaffer isn’t the only former franchise owner trying to go on his own after being part of a larger brand. Also making the switch is the former Clarion Randolph Park Hotel in Tucson, now operating as the Randolph Park Hotel and Suites. Omar Mireles, executive vice president of HSL Properties, which owns the hotel, said the company wasn’t happy with the midlevel Clarion brand and is going independent while searching for a new brand.
“It wasn’t quite meeting the expectation that we had at the end of the day,” he said.
Experts say turning a franchise into an independent business is fraught with perils – including the expense of changing logos, signs, phone numbers and proprietary equipment; possible lawsuits by the parent company; and all the usual challenges faced by small businesses, such as trying to develop a customer base.
Nonetheless, Shaffer and other former franchisees said they were willing to take the risks.
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