A Family Journey Since 1981

SERIES: Best Canadian Plant 2025 Competition

Busy Bee Gold Dry Cleaners
704 West 6th Avenue. Vancouver, BC
(604) 872 1519
busybeegold.com

The story of Busy Bee Gold Dry Cleaners is not one of sudden fame or big breakthroughs. It’s a simple story of a family, a small shop, and a community that believed in us.

In 1981, my parents opened a modest dry cleaning store on West 6th Avenue in Vancouver. The shop was just 1,500 sq. ft., with two employees and a dream: to provide honest, reliable service to neighbors and friends. What they lacked in size, they made up for in care and dedication.

For decades, that little store served as a trusted corner of the community. Then in 2011, I joined the business with the goal of carrying my parents’ legacy forward. My hope was not to reinvent what they built, but to honor their foundation while introducing new ideas and improvements that could help us keep up with a changing city and industry.

Step by step, growing carefully

In 2012, we added the neighboring store to install a second K4 dry cleaning machine, giving us more capacity.

By 2015, we had grown enough to establish three departments: dry cleaning, tailoring, and bridal services.

Over time, our bridal preservation kits, now known as Treasury Boxes®, found their way into homes across Canada and the USA. For many brides and families, these boxes have become the most trusted way to safeguard wedding gowns, veils, and heirlooms. They are not about luxury for luxury’s sake, but about giving people comfort and assurance that their most meaningful garments are protected. It’s one of the ways we’ve been able to quietly stand apart in our industry.

Our tailoring department, led by six skilled tailors and two fitting specialists, became a place not just for alterations, but for giving clothes longer life, a small but important step toward sustainability.

We also recognized that the traditional plastic garment bag is wasteful and not designed for long-term use. So we created a recycling program: using a specific recycled plastic to manufacture our garment bags, encouraging customers to bring them back after use, and collecting them to deliver directly to reputable recycling facilities. This way, what is normally a single-use item becomes part of a sustainable loop.

As we grew, we also realized we’re not only a dry cleaner, we’re building practical solutions for the industry. We developed the Muslin Garment Bag and Muslin Sweater Bag specifically for home storage, because the thin plastic cover you receive from a dry cleaner is meant for short-term transport, not for keeping clothes at home. Our muslin bags include an organza window for visibility and padded piping, with optional lavender or cedar to deter moths and other insects. We’re now working to make these products available to fellow dry cleaners so they can offer better storage options to their customers and raise the standard of garment care across our industry.

Caring for clothes, caring for the planet

We’ve always felt that how we treat garments should reflect how we treat the environment. That’s why we invested in System K4, the only bio-certified solvent, paired with a high-efficiency boiler to reduce emissions.

The trust we’ve been given

We’re humbled to serve both everyday families in Vancouver and some of the world’s most respected brands, names like Prada, Dior, Hermès, Burberry, YSL, Versace, Moncler, Brunello Cucinelli, and even the local law courts. Their trust has been an honor, but we never forget that it’s the loyalty of our community that keeps us going.

Sharing our message quietly and consistently

We don’t believe in shouting the loudest. Instead, we take a long-term approach to marketing: carefully planned campaigns across Google Ads, Meta, Yelp, and SEO, always focused on quality content and consistent exposure. Our goal is simple: to gently remind people why professional garment care matters, and to invite them to experience the difference in person.

And when they walk through our doors, we want them to feel welcome and at ease. Our two front desks, one for dry cleaning and one for tailoring/bridal, are designed to be polished and inviting, reflecting the care we put into every garment that enters our shop.

Facing challenges with humility

Like many businesses, we’ve faced rising costs and difficulties in hiring. We’ve responded by improving our processes, strengthening training, and adopting new tools like aptitude testing to better understand candidates. None of these steps were easy, but each helped us become more resilient, always with the aim of serving our customers better.

Looking forward

From a 1,500 sq. ft. family shop to a 4,200 sq. ft. garment care facility, the growth has been steady but our values remain unchanged. We are still, at heart, a family business that believes in treating garments with respect, caring for the environment, and being grateful for every customer who walks through our doors.

This is our story, not one of boasting, but of gratitude for the journey and for the people who have made it possible.

---

It’s not too late to nominate your plant!

We’ll be featuring plant stories all month, so it’s not too late to nominate yours.

GUIDELINES HERE

Send with photos ASAP to becca@fabricarecanada.com.