NEWS ALERT: Minute Men Cleaners is open for business in Weston
Written by Patricia Gay
Monday, 28 February 2011 07:23

A full-service dry-cleaning and laundry company opened its doors this morning in the Weston Shopping Center.

Minute Men Cleaners opened today at 7 a.m. The store is located in a space next to the Weston Hardware Store.

Ken Shepard, left, and Dominic Zoccali, far right, welcome everyone to Minute Men Cleaners in Weston. Looking on in the back are employees Alvaro Torres and Scott Perry. —Patricia Gay photo

The town has been without a cleaning service since 2006, when the Weston Valet closed its doors.

Minute Men is a family-owned business run by Ken Shepard, his brother Jon, and Dominic Zoccali. The company has operations in Westport, Trumbull, Greenwich and the Huntington section of Shelton.

Ken Shepard said he is glad to be opening a branch in Weston because he has fond memories of riding his bike in town with his daughter and stopping for snacks at Peter’s Market. "We hope we have filled a void in Weston," Mr. Shepard said.

Minute Men offers many services including fine dry cleaning, premium shirt laundering and pressing, leather and suede cleaning, wedding gown preservation, area rug cleaning, tailoring and alterations.

"We also do flatwork laundry for table and bed linens. After cleaning them we can press them so there are no creases and wrinkles," Mr. Shepard said.

In addition, Minute Men offers full laundry service and will wash, dry and fold loads of laundry.

As an added convenience, Weston customers can request free door-to-door service. Minute Men will collect laundry and dry cleaning items and deliver them after they’re done.

Minute Men specializes in cleaning high-end items, Mr. Shepard said. They’ve cleaned by hand an $18,000 one-of-a-kind Leonard designer dress, a large stuffed dragon costume worn in a parade, and a large number of seating cushions used onboard a 250-foot yacht.

The Weston location for Minute Men will be a storefront operation only. All dry cleaning and laundering will be done off premises at the Westport branch. Tailoring and alteration services are available by appointment. There are future plans to add a 24-hour drop box at the store for customer convenience.

The hours of operation for Minute Men Cleaners in Weston are:
Monday through Friday: 7 to 7
Saturday: 8 to 5
Closed on Sunday
The store's phone number is 203-349-5302.

The Shepard family has been in the cleaning business for three generations.

Their grandfather started a home laundry business in the 1930s. Then their father, Fred, opened Minute Men dry cleaning and laundry service in 1960. Carrying on the family tradition, since 1990 Ken and Jon Shepard have operated and expanded the business.

"In some ways, we have come full circle,” Ken Shepard said. “We’re doing pick up and delivery service like my grandfather used to."