DRYCLEAN USA Awards Exclusive License to Piedmont Mining Company LLC for Charlotte, North Carolina; Agreement Includes Two Year Option For State of North Carolina.

Business Editors

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2000

DRYCLEAN USA (AMEX:DCU), through its wholly-owned subsidiary DRYCLEAN USA License Corporation, has awarded an exclusive license to Piedmont Mining Company, Inc. (OTCBB:PIED) to develop and operate drycleaning and laundry businesses under the DRYCLEAN USA name in the greater Charlotte, N.C. area.

According to the terms of the agreement Piedmont's new, North Carolina limited liability company, Southeastern Cleaners, LLC acquired the exclusive license for $200,000. Piedmont said it will own a 49.4 percent interest in Southeastern Cleaners by contributing $400,000 to the company.

In addition to the license agreement, DRYCLEAN USA granted Piedmont a two year option to acquire a master license, which will include the right to grant sub-licenses to qualified third parties and to develop and operate drycleaning and laundry businesses under the DRYCLEAN USA name throughout North Carolina.

The first laundry and drycleaning store under the DRYCLEAN USA name in the Charlotte area should be open for business in four to six months.

&uot;This is the first license granted in our aggressive campaign to expand the DRYCLEAN USA concept from coast to coast,&uot; said Michael Steiner, president and CEO of DRYCLEAN USA. &uot;We recently launched a major marketing campaign to license individual franchises, area-wide development agreements and conversion programs for existing dry cleaning stores.&uot;

&uot;We are very excited about our affiliation with DRYCLEAN USA,&uot; said Tom Ross, president of Southeastern Cleaners, LLC. &uot;Clearly, there's a demand for the quality of service offered by DRYCLEAN USA in Charlotte and we are prepared to hit the ground running and get stores operational as quickly as possible.&uot;

DRYCLEAN U.S.A. currently has nearly 400 locations in the United States, the Caribbean, Central and South America.

To keep pace with the technological changes, DRYCLEAN USA has developed a leading edge Internet strategy to compliment its traditional marketing efforts. The DRYCLEAN USA web site, www.drycleanusa.com, offers customers a wide range of services beyond the scope of laundry, dry cleaning and garment care. Additionally, the site will serve as a source for interactive information and solutions to clothing and textile problems for home and office.

&uot;The Internet site, which is under construction, will give our customers the opportunity to take advantage of special offers and obtain information on taking care of their garments,&uot; said Steiner.

Founded in 1960, the company's Steiner-Atlantic division is one of the nation's leading distributors of industrial laundry, dry cleaning equipment and steam boilers. The Company intends to serve as the primary source of equipment for new DRYCLEAN USA stores. The Company's telecommunications division, Metro-Tel Corp., serves special telephony industry niches.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements which are not historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties including but not limited to risks associated with the uncertainty of future financial results, additional financing requirements, development of new products, government approval processes, the impact of competitive products or pricing, technological changes, the effect of economic conditions and other uncertainties detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.