To understand John’s frame of mind, you need understand his childhood in Poland. John’s parents had two sources of income: farming and weaving cloth. They wove cloth on a simple loom situated in the front room of their farmhouse. A foot pedal operated the loom, and in his childhood John was dutifully expected to supply the foot power to operate the loom. As he got older and showed interest, John’s parents taught him how to weave cloth.

As John tried to figure out how to find employment, he recalled hearing family and friends in his native Poland talking about New Bedford, Massachusetts. At that time, New Bedford enjoyed the reputation of being the largest producer of Cotton goods in the United States.

Mills nearly a quarter mile long were the norm. Not just one mill, but many, situated along the Acushnet River - - and as far as the eye could see.

John had an idea. He felt that his ability to weave cloth might be beneficial to a cotton mill operator. More importantly, it might secure him a much needed job. He travelled from New Hampshire to New Bedford. It was 1913. According to today’s highway maps, the distance is approximately 117 miles. How he got to New Bedford and how much time it took is a mystery.

Arriving in New Bedford, John applied at the one of these giant mills. He was able to get a job as a “Sample Weaver”. He found a rooming house, settled in, and New Bedford became his new home.

New Bedford Cotton mills employed thousands of employees. Buyers in New York City would send sketches and ideas of what type of cloth they were interested in purchasing. It was through the efforts and experience of the “Sample Weavers” that a small sample swatch of the design was produced. The better and quicker this sample was produced, the greater the chance it would land a sale for the Weaver’s mill.

John did well at his job, but as World War 1 progressed in Europe, the call to arms was made from the Polish Army Unit in Canada. He felt that the Polish war effort was far more important than his job as a “Sample Weaver”. John thought it to be important enough that he quit his job and joined the Canadian unit.

In 1915 he found himself serving in France. After the war ended, John’s only Army compensation was a free trip to Poland so that he could visit his father. It was the last time John would ever see him. John’s mother had passed away at an early age.

John returned to the United States after the war and opened a grocery store with a partner. To service his patrons with the best service possible, he opened early and closed late, every day . . . 7 days a week. Needless to say, the days were long and the work was hard. It was a successful enterprise with one exception: no matter how hard John worked, he could not make the business grow.

It didn’t have much to do with John’s abilities or inabilities. It was all based on the way goods and services were available during the early 1900’s. People in cities lived in neighborhoods. (Just a reminder - - Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1906 . . . and America had very few roads, paved or unpaved . . . horses were still in every day use).

People worked, shopped and worshipped within walking distances of their homes. Grocery stores were no exception. They serviced neighborhoods and were located within walking distance of patrons’ homes. There was a finite number of families patronizing the local grocery store . . . not just John’s store, but any local grocery store.

Hard work never slowed or discouraged John, but working hard at something with a lack of a growth potential was very frustrating.

Although John did not consider himself a marketing genius, one day he conducted his first market survey. Looking through his grocery store window he observed huge laundry wagons passing by loaded with laundry tubs.

He also noticed the poor, tired horse that could just about pull the wagon. This image triggered a spark of an idea. John felt that if he could provide a valuable service to more people in a larger area, unlike the confined neighborhood of a grocery store, he would have a chance to build a business. As John’s thoughts developed, he concluded that it would make sense to first concentrate on a certain section of a city. Since he was already familiar with the North End of New Bedford, Massachusetts this is where it would be. And, what better idea than a laundry ?

Home washing machines as we know them today were not in very many homes during those years. Home dryers had not even been invented. Everyone’s home laundry were done by hand and dryed on outdoor clothes lines . . . if the sun was out and it wasn’t winter. The early 1900’s were not that convenient.

Just imagine what John was thinking. The future was promising. An opportunity to start and build a business that could service as many customers as he could acquire. It was at this point in time John made a life changing decision. He was able to borrow $15,000.00, equal today to $187,000.00*. A loaf of bread cost 10 cents, a quart of milk-15 cents, one dozen eggs-57 cents, a pound of coffee-47cents. Armed with the loan, John purchased a parcel of land in the North End of the City of New Bedford in 1919.

John proceeded to construct a building for his new laundry. He not only built his plant, he even manufactured (by hand) hundreds of his own 8”x10”x12” cement blocks. This is not too much of a surprise when you find that as a youth in Poland, all young people were trained for a specific trade. Take a guess! . . . John’s training, thankfully,as as a “Concrete Mason”.

John named his new business “Brooklawn Laundry”, since it was located near the entrance to Brooklawn Park. He installed one coal fired boiler, one steam engine, four wooden four pocket unloading washers with a capacity of 200 pounds each, and two small (about 30 pounds each) extractors.

Opening day for Brooklawn Laundry was January 1, 1919 (New Year’s Day at that time was not a holiday). John’s staff consisted of one steam engineer and one washman. John was also the first driver-salesman, as well as the extractor man.

* Source: 1918-19 Consumer Price Index

As Brooklawn Laundry’s first day of business consisted of one customer. The customer was John’s wife - - he processed all her home laundry.

As John worked the laundry, he found having a loan was a struggle. Cash flow ebbed and flowed during busy or slow months, but the loan was a fixed amount due every month. He thought if he sought out investors for his fledgling business it might be easier to grow and be profitable.

On May 24, 1924 a local doctor by the name of Dr. Perras invested $15,000.00 in John’s vision. John used it wisely. The original loan was paid in full and the remainder used to start a brand new company. John named it “Wash-Rite Laundry, Inc.”

It was customary in the early 1900’s, unlike modern healthcare plans, for doctors to make house calls to see their patients. John’s partner, Dr. Perras (a general practitioner), routinely visited people in their homes. It was obvious to him that hygiene was key to personal health. Fewer germs meant less disease. He suggested to his patients what seemed obvious to him. Clean clothing, undergarments, sheets and towels make for a germ-free, healthy, hygenic household. In that fashion the good Doctor became Wash-Rite’s first and only true professional salesman. In 1934, as the business grew, more capacity was required. John and Dr. Perras purchased a second laundry. This acquisition brought the dollar volume over the break-even point, and the venture was finally beginning to make money.

In 1955 John stepped back and appointed his son, Al Bodzioch, to oversee and take charge of the business. Al, an armed forces veteran, had served both in the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. Eager to take the lead of the family business, he enrolled and graduated from the American Institute of Laundering and the National Institute of Dry Cleaning.

With his wife Helen’s support, Al was the driving force of Wash-Rite and managed everyday operations. John however, had one final objective that was very important to him before he fully retired. He wanted Wash-Rite to be debt free. He bought out his partner Dr. Perras for $15,000.00 plus interest. Wash-Rite’s total weekly volume at that time was $1,300 per week, less 30% for the commissioned drivers, leaving a grand total of $910 per week to run the entire business.

John Bodzioch had accomplished what he set out to do. He had positioned the Company for the future. A entire new generation was about to begin. It was all up to Al Bodzioch.

During Al’s first few months his father put him at the helm, in addition to running day to day operations, Al studied the business closely and evaluated what was needed to grow Wash-Rite and make it more efficient. He developed a master plan to improve Wash-Rite.

After John fully retired Al implemented his plan to make his Company the most modern of its’ kind. The first major improvement was to retire all of the original equipment installed in 1920 and replace it with the latest state-of- the-art technology. After completing this part of the plan, Wash-Rite was greatly improved.

The initial goal was was to achieve faster processing times, fewer laborious hand operations, and increased capacity. Al’s objectives were achieved. The result was a very efficient reliable Wash-Rite Laundry.

Al continued his focus on expanding Wash-Rite. In 1957, he purchased a Prosperity 6-A dry cleaning unit and installed it in the main plant. Wash-Rite officially entered the retail dry cleaning business.

In 1959 Al once again expanded Wash-Rite and opened Wash-Rite Launderama, conveniently located in a high-traffic area. It was a brand new idea as a service to the public seeking laundry services. The facility housed dozens of washers and dryers for self-serve customer use.

Although dry cleaning and the home laundry business sustained Wash-Rite for many years, the future of the company started to change. In 1966 Al Bodzioch signed his first rental work clothes customer. The contract was made in the name of Wash-Rite Work Clothes Rental Service. And, as Al signed up more rental work clothes customers, the demand kept growing. In 1969, to meet this growing demand, Al expanded rental operations with a new 120-pound dual phase Washex unit.

There was no doubt in anybody’s mind what services the Company provided, but it sure was difficult being the receptionist. The name of the Company needed to be simplified and improved. In 1971, Clean Rentals, Inc. was created. As the Company grew and added a larger scope of products and services , the name Clean Rentals became obsolete. As history has proven, Clean Uniforms ... and More! clearly describes the Company niche.

In 1977 the tides were turning. As uniform rental services grew at a rapid rate, home laundry services declined. Al decided to focus all Company efforts solely on his fledgling uniform rental business. He took a bold move and discontinued home laundry services, and in 1983 shut down all dry cleaning activities.

In 1979, Al’s son Mark joined Clean to head up operations and Al’s daughter, Ann, joined her brother nearly 20 years later.

In the late 1970’s Clean grew rapidly. Clean quickly realized that high-capacity was needed. Operations at that point in time were being performed in many buildings and at various locations throughout New Bedford. In order to gain more production capacity, Clean reorganized it’s operations and purchased a larger facility to meet the growing demand.

Mark, like his father, had even grander ambitions for his grandfather’s laundry business. Even now, with all the re-organization and building expansions, Clean was rapidly outgrowing all of its facilities and processing capabilities. It was very clear to Mark that there was only one way to solve the never ending need for capacity. The solution was a brand-new larger Clean centralized Service Center.

The first objective was to find a large enough parcel of land that would allow for expansion. It would have to be strategically located and have easy access to Interstate highways. This would allow the Clean fleet to access and service its customers quickly and efficiently.

In 1998, what is now the current home, Clean Uniforms . . . and More! opened, consolidating all operations under one roof. Today, it’s one of the industry’s most technologically advanced and ecofriendly centralized Service Centers found anywhere in America.

The Clean Service Center was specially designed for the most efficient thru plant work flow. It features the latest automated computer driven garment conveying system. The result - faster, more efficient processing.

Clean developed its own proprietary bar-code tracking system named “On-Trak”. It’s purpose is to track and follow each garment traveling through the Clean Service Center - the result: No lost garments.

An on-site warehouse is stocked with the best brand top quality garments available. All popular sizes, colors and styles - with a very high depth of inventory. Not only can existing Clean customers get great service, but new customers can have their uniform program up and running in no time at all.

Clean’s new expansion helped Clean achieve its ultimate goal - to become the ONLY Uniform Company that can offer its customers the most complete deliveries of any Company in the industry. Clean’s Complete and On-Time Delivery Program is a major reason why more than 98% of Clean Customers that originally Sign-On, Stay-On.

The modern Clean centralized Service Center is just several city blocks away from John Bodzioch’s original cinderblock plant built in 1919.

Today, Clean Uniforms... and More ! is operated by the current generation brother/ sister duo, Mark and Ann. Clean is and remains one of the very few successful family owned and managed industrial laundry facilities in America. It is fair to say that Grandfather John Bodzioch would be proud. And yes, there is a fourth generation. Stay tuned . . . there’s lots more good stuff to come!