Calif. company buys Zoots Corp. dry cleaner

U.S. Dry Cleaning Corp., based in Palm Springs, Calif., has bought the Virginia dry-cleaning operations of Zoots Corp. for $1.9 million. Zoots, based in Newton, Mass., has 11 retail locations in Hampton Roads and a main cleaning plant in Portsmouth.

It marks U.S. Dry Cleaning's first foray into the East Coast, and the company plans to "fill in the geographic gaps over time," said Deborah Rechnitz, its vice president of business development.

It operates in Hawaii, as well as various parts of California. Zoots, which sold off only its Virginia assets, operates mostly in New England and New York.