Today’s Focus on Wallingford is featuring Wallingford's own, Ultra Coin Laundromat! With a convienent location on North Main Street Extention and welcoming customer service, Ultra Coin is the best laundromat service our town has to offer! Not only is it immaculate, but also up to date and comfortable. Recently I got together with Chris and talked shop. Read what he had to say, below!

"Ultra coin Laundromat is a family owned business that opened in 2000. Initially, it was started by my mother and her best friend. I took over the business about five years ago and have done my best to maintain the high quality service they started but have added my own touches to the place. I grew up in Wallingford, graduated from Lyman Hall High School, and I'm happy to be raising my kids here as well.  We are very involved in the community.  Ultra Coin sponsors a team in the Wallingford Girls' Softball League and that team even made it to the championship game last year! We are also a proud sponsor of an adult softball team. Ultra Coin's biggest focus is on cleanliness and the happiness of our customers. We offer a friendly, family-oriented environment, complete with an iPad center with games to entertain the children and two big screen televisions with plenty of seating.  Our laundromat has 24 washers, 26 dryers and plenty of folding tables. We are located near multiple shopping destinations and have over 12 cameras for added safety.  We are proud to say that Ultra Coin was voted "2015 Best Laundromat in New Haven County". We hope to continue this tradition throughout the years to come!"

Thank you for taking the time to read this week’s Focus on Wallingford! Keep your eyes peeled to see our next post and if you’re interested in having your business featured feel free to contact us HERE!

You heard right, Focus on Wallingford is back! There’s so many businesses to feature we weren’t sure where to begin so we went with one of our favorite places, which is located right in the center of it all. The Dressing Room is a high fashion boutique with great prices and customer service. Its storefront is right on the corner of Main and Center Street at the top of the hill. The owner, Chris and I, have become friends while working on a number of projects together and I admire her love for fashion, approach to client relationships and work ethic. We met up with Chris and asked her to tell us a little about her store, read below!

“With 25+ years of business experience both in the corporate world and as a business owner, it is a joy to incorporate my love of fashion, my passion to empower women and my creativity into The Dressing Room Boutique. I have worked in the world of finance with a fortune 100 company as well as in the position of CFO for an insurance brokerage that my husband founded. I then followed my passion into the world of fashion and currently am the CEO of CM Clothing, Inc. which includes my clothing line Gogirlwrapperz, my retail store The Dressing Room Boutique and my online store The Dressing Room 24-7. www.thedressingroom24-7.com. I just recently partnered with Shoptiques.com which is a global e-commerce site of the best boutiques from all over the world. Just last week we shipped our first order to the UK!

I discovered Wallingford when my oldest daughter Ashley, was attending Choate Rosemary Hall. I loved the charm of the town and have come to love the multi-generational families that live here. It is a privilege to have earned the trust of so many women who come to us to dress them for some of the most important and memorable days of their lives. Whether it’s a wedding, anniversary, reunion, gala or any special occasion where any old dress just won’t do. Our customers know they can rely on us to put them in something that makes them feel beautiful.

In 2012, I was able to expand the store when the frame shop next door went out of business. We were able to double the square footage of the store, add dressing rooms and expand our formal wear offerings. Now half of the store is dedicated to sportswear, jewelry, accessories and shoes and the other half dresses and gowns. We carry everything from denim to evening gowns and all things in between.

One of the things I love about being a business owner is collaborating with other businesses and organizations in town to promote each other and improve the community. Recently we held our 6^th Annual Fundraiser in collaboration with The Rotary for the Liberty Bank Thanksgiving Day Project. We put on a Fashion Show and donate a portion of all sales to feed the homeless at Thanksgiving. It was a huge success and a record breaking year. I am thrilled to be able to make a nice donation to such a great cause.

We have some fun events coming up in the month of December with the Holiday Stroll in conjunction with Wallingford Center Inc. and a fun ladies night we are hosting with local Fashion Blogger and makeup artist Jenna Poitras. Just a few of the fun things we will be participating with other folks and organizations in the near future.

Please stop in just to introduce yourself, browse around and let us help you in any way we can. Our saying is “Enter as Strangers and Leave as Friends.” 

Make sure to poke your head into The Dressing Room this holiday season and keep an eye on the blog to see what other Wallingford businesses we feature in the coming weeks! 

If you are a Wallingford business owner and interested in being featured in FOW in the coming weeks, feel free to contact us HERE.

There's no better way to enjoy summer weather than with a fresh haircut and today's feature can help you get just that! When I walked into Dino's Modern Barbershop I could feel and see the Wallingford pride! Dino loves to show who he is through his decorations and possibly connect with his customers before they even sit in his chair. When we sat down with Dino to talk about himself and his shop; here's what he had to say:

"I'm 40 years old and have been a barber for 21 years. For 20 years I have been working in North Haven at my father's shop Gerardo's Modern Barbershop. It's always been a dream of mine to open my own place, just the way my Father did. Luckily, that is exactly what has brought me to Wallingford! It seemed perfect considering I've been living in this town since 1985 a graduate of Lyman Hall class of 1992. I'm super excited to bring excellence in barber shop experience to Wallingford. I hope to bring a family atmosphere and comfort for men and boys of all ages.  Also, when you visit my shop you will learn a lot about who I am, which is a big sports fan, especially the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Steelers. My second passion is my favorite band the Dave Matthews Band but my biggest passion is cutting hair and giving you the greatest customer service possible. I'm always welcoming new clients and forging great relationships with them. So, thank you in advance for your patronage and don't forget to stop in and check me out !!! Thank You!"

So, if you're in need of a haircut, good atmosphere and coverstaion, head on over to Dino's Modern Barbershop on 202 Center St. Wallingford!

Thank you for reading this weeks FOW! If you own a business in town and would like to be featured in our Focus on Wallingford series, comment below or contact me HERE!

With our FOW posts, we try and feature a variety of businesses and genres of work. To keep updated with the trend, today we are featuring a Wallingford based law firm. The families of Ann Farrell and Christine Grochowski are longtime clients and friends of Impressions Studio. We recently chatted with them about their firm and this is what they had to say.

"The law firm of Farrell & Grochowski was started by Jerry Farrell, Sr. in 1966 and has always been based on Wallingford. He was joined by his twin daughters, Ann Farrell and Christine Grochowski in the mid 1990s. We grew up in Wallingford and have a great love of this town and it's residents. As a family owned law firm, we strive to provide personalized service. We have had the opportunity to represent multiple generations of the same families over the years. We love assisting local businesses, helping our clients buy and sell real estate, as well as providing estate planning and elder law services to our clients. We provide help obtaining social security and immigration benefits. Ann and Chris’s dogs are frequent visitors at the firm and we often have clients tell us they are disappointed if the dogs aren’t around during their visit to our office."

 

Make sure to contact Farrell & Grochowski for your legal needs. They are located on Center Street across from Cafe Ra and keep up to date with our bi-weekly Focus On Wallingford features!

Thank you for reading this weeks FOW! If you own a business in town and would like to be featured on our Focus on Wallingford series, comment below or contact me HERE!