A family business
Phil and Rob Priestly
The history of gouge
Gouge established a regional presence in Shepparton in May 1945 as
a retail dry cleaner.
In 1989 a small commercial laundry operation formed part of the
business and it was sold to the Priestly family. John and Rose Priestly sold
the farm in the small community of Katandra West. A few years later two of
their five children joined the business, Phil in 1995 and Rob 1998. Since then,
the business has moved to new larger plants twice and steadily expanded each
year.
Other significant dates and events in our growth have included.
1999 the business took over the contract for the local hospital and moved to the
McLennan St factory2002 Acquisition of Shepparton Laundry service
2005 Acquisition of Cobram Laundry service
2009 Closure of WJ Smith Linen service
2012 Closure of Loddon Linen service
2013 Opening of Geelong Distribution Centre
2016 Opening of Ballarat Distribution Centre
2016 Opening of Bendigo Distribution Centre
2018 Acquisition of French's Laundry
2018 Acquisition of Reserve Linen
2018 Purchase of land for new Geelong factory
2019 Consolidation of Melbourne sites to the new Noble Park Distribution Centre
2019 Demolition of buildings on Geelong sites
Today the business employs 320 staff to service all of Victoria, country New South Wales,
and is working towards further expansion.