US-based uniform business opens London plant, creating 80 jobs

A uniform-cleaning business that will serve clients across Southwestern Ontario is opening its doors in London.

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UniFirst, a US-based business, cut the ribbon on Tuesday morning on a new plant that will serve nearly 2,000 uniform wearers across the city and the region. It will employ 80 people, officials with the company announced.

“We’re excited to open our new facility in London which will allow us to better serve our customers in this region with the highest levels of service and efficiency,” Steven Sintros, UniFirst’s chief executive, said in a media release.

In addition to cleaning uniforms it will also rent out workwear.

The 56,000-square-foot plant is built on nine acres on Innovation Drive near the city’s southeastern edge. It will serve uniform wearers in London, Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener, Chatham, Windsor and the surrounding areas, officials said.

The company has 1,750 area customers and will clean 23,000 uniforms monthly.

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“The newly built Unifirst facility is a shining example of the multiplier effect that comes from growing our primary industries,” said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp.

“As several new food and beverage processing and advanced manufacturing companies have landed in our region, it has created a ripple effect of new investments from suppliers and service providers.”

The arrival is timely: The latest Statistics Canada figures show London and surrounding communities shed 3,600 jobs last month – the third consecutive month of local job losses. London’s jobless rate sits at 6.5 per cent.

UniFist is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts and opened in 1936 serving business in the Boston area. Today the company has more than 270 locations, more than 16,000 workers and it outfits more than two million workers daily.

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