A bridal shop is coming to Lawrence, looking to offer convenience and fashion for brides – plus give guys a new place to buy and rent formal wear.

Owners of two Topeka-based businesses – Livingston’s Tuxedo & Bridal Gallery and Hygienic Dry Cleaners – say they are committed to expanding in Topeka and into Lawrence.

The Lawrence portion of the plan calls for opening a new bridal gallery somewhere in town, possibly at the Orchards Corners Shopping Center, Kasold Drive and Bob Billings Parkway, where Hygienic has had a cleaning shop since 1990.

The two companies already have been working together in Topeka for about a year. Now they want to team up and build business in Lawrence and elsewhere in northeast Kansas.

Work on a shared building for both businesses in Topeka is expected to begin by the end of the year, while the Lawrence shop should be taking measurements and reservations in time for formals, proms and weddings in the spring.

“Lawrence is a natural extension,” said Paul Shafer, owner of Livingston’s. “At this point, we’re not sure where (the shop) would be or how big it would be, but we believe there is opportunity in the Lawrence area.”

The decision comes after two Lawrence bridal shops – Elegant Grace, 3727 W. Sixth St., and Pure Elegance, 1405 Mass. – closed in recent years. Randall’s Formal Wear endures in downtown Lawrence, offering men’s formal wear and accessories for purchase and rent.

Shafer figures there’s room to grow in Lawrence. Working with Hygienic makes the expansion even more viable, he said.

“We believe that dry cleaning and tuxedo rentals aren’t just distant cousins,” he said. “They’re brother and sister.”

Livingston’s has been operating in Topeka since the late 1960s. Shafer bought the place in 2002.

Hygienic has family roots tracing back to 1944.

Grady Golden, Hygienic’s president, said that a new 22,500-square-foot building at 2930 S.W. McClure in Topeka – which will include a relocated Livingston’s from 17th and Fairlawn – would allow his own company to add 11 employees in Topeka, up from 27 today. He plans to add another four workers in Lawrence.

He already does 30 percent of his company’s business in Lawrence, more than half of it through home pickup and delivery service.

“Both being family, home-owned and operated businesses, this is one way not only to survive but thrive in the coming years,” said Golden, a 1977 Kansas University graduate.