Luxury Clean chooses Cape Girardeau for first US location

Ken Murphy has overseen stores such as Starbucks and Rhodes before, and being the general manager of a dry cleaning business uses some of the same principles. Still, running the newly opened Luxury Clean at 601 Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau is somewhat different from his previous positions.

“My experience is in community growth. My experience is in business management,” Murphy said. “… Every new person through the door will be new to this business, and that’s where I hope to be someone who can build those relationships with our local community.”

This is the case because Luxury Clean is entirely new to the region- and, indeed, to the United States of America. Owners Oscar and Mabel Chahin operate nine Luxury Clean locations in Mexico and, when choosing to expand north of the border, fell in love with Southeast Missouri.

“They came here on a hunting vacation. They loved the area so much they now live here, and they are opening up their own businesses here,” Murphy said.

The business specializes in eco-friendly dry cleaning, using steam cleaning and plant-based cleaners instead of chemical-based ones. The Cape Girardeau location, the first of many the owners plan for Southeast Missouri, opened Monday, Oct. 28.

With five employees counting Murphy, it offers cleaning and alterations for a variety of garments and accessories, including suit jackets, trousers, hats, bags and wedding dresses.

“We want to meet the customer where their needs are and we want to meet and exceed expectations, so we want to hit deadlines and we want the clothes cleaned, altered or mended to the customers’ specifications,” Murphy said.

Luxury Clean is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. No reservations are required and garments dropped off before 9 a.m. can be cleaned by the end of the day.

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