Jim Bradbury, general manager of Harvey’s Cleaners Inc. on Brambleton Avenue in Roanoke County, has worked at the family-run dry cleaner since he was 18. Dry cleaners are among the businesses that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Harvey’s has been in business for more than 50 years. New services, like pickup and delivery and a wash, dry, fold service, are helping keep the business afloat.
HEATHER ROUSSEAU | The Roanoke Times
Jim Bradbury, 53, general manager of Harvey’s Cleaners Inc. on Brambleton Avenue in Roanoke County, has worked at the family-run dry cleaner since he was 18 years old. Dry cleaners are among the businesses that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Harvey’s has been in business more than 50 years and relies on additional services, like pickup and delivery and a wash, dry, fold service, to help keep the business afloat.
Jim Bradbury, 53, general manager of Harvey’s Cleaners Inc., runs the conveyor belt holding finished dry cleaning. The business has diversified, relying on pickup and delivery and wash, dry, fold services to help it survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harvey’s Cleaners Inc. has been in business more than 50 years. The general manager, with the help of his daughter, has found fun decor to hang in the business.
Dorsey Taylor, left, picks up his dry cleaning from Jim Bradbury at Harvey’s Cleaners. Taylor has been a customer for more than 40 years, and Bradbury, who has been working at the business since he was 18, knows his customers by name.
Jim Bradbury, 53, general manager of Harvey’s Cleaners Inc. on Brambleton Avenue in Roanoke County, has worked at the shop since he was 18. Dry cleaners have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the struggles, Bradbury said he never considered closing Harvey’s, which has been in business more than 50 years.
Jim Bradbury of Harvey’s Cleaners Inc. says he never considered closing. Instead he asked “What else can we do?” and focused on other services.
Antique irons are used as paper weights at Harvey’s.
Bradbury chats with a longtime customer in the drive-thru. Bradbury has known many of the customers for decades and says his close relationships with them have helped the business stay afloat.
Jim Bradbury, center, and his son-in-law, Cody Bocock, put tablecloths in the trunk of Pat Bruce’s car. Bruce is a longtime customer and was picking up the tablecloths for her granddaughter’s wedding.
Kendall Preas drops off dry cleaning to Jim Bradbury, general manager of Harvey’s Cleaners Inc.
Dry cleaning tags at Harvey’s Cleaners Inc.
Jim Bradbury, general manager of Harvey’s Cleaners Inc., and his son-in-law, Cody Bockock, fold dry cleaning. Harvey’s has been in business more than 50 years; Bradbury is the third generation and said he’s training Bockock as the fourth.
When offices shuttered and their employees started working from home because of the coronavirus, the dress code became much more casual.
As people have swapped their suits for sweats, dry cleaners have suffered.
When Harvey’s Cleaners Inc. saw a roughly 80% drop in volume at the beginning of the pandemic, general manager Jim Bradbury said the Roanoke County business opted to diversify.
Harvey’s started a wash, dry, fold business — they’ll wash your bedsheets, T-shirts, sweatpants — in March and began promoting it more heavily. The dry cleaner also added a pickup and delivery service, Bradbury said.
The additional services have helped to make up for the reduction in dry clean items coming through the door.
“We’re small, but we’re big enough to handle anything they throw at us,” said Bradbury, who is the third generation to run the family business and is training the fourth generation now.
Dry cleaners throughout the United States have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, seeing their business fall by 70% to 80%, said Jon Meijer, director of membership for the Dry Cleaning and Laundry Institute.
“There’s no question we’re going to lose a bunch of dry cleaners across the country,” he said, saying he wouldn’t be surprised if 25% to 30% failed to recover.
The industry will be changed by the pandemic, Meijer said. The shift toward pickup and delivery services, which has been building for years, has accelerated. Wash and fold services are also likely to grow. Meijer said it’s important for dry cleaners to emphasize that they can clean various types of clothes and linens, not just those bearing dry clean-only tags.
“Your business model from last year, you might as well throw it in the garbage,” he said. “It’s not worth anything. This is something that nobody anticipated.”
Meijer said he’s also concerned about the number of companies that might decide to allow their employees to continue working remotely after the pandemic, which could result in the permanent loss of those customers’ dry cleaning business.
Most dry cleaners are truly small businesses, Meijer said, and they lack the resources and capital of large chains. As consumers strive to support small businesses, he said that applies to dry cleaners, too.
“We are the true definition of a mom-and-pop, not SBA’s [Small Business Administration’s] definition,” he said.
Bradbury said he knew the pandemic would make things difficult for Harvey’s, which has been in business for more than 50 years. The business managed to retain its staff, even when there were few customers.
“We were thankful for every one that came through the door, but it got a little slow,” he said.
Loyal customers have shown their support; Bradbury said a regular once handed $50 to the employee working the drive-thru and drove off.
For most dry cleaners, the busiest time of year is March to July, Bradbury said. As the seasons change so, too, does a person’s wardrobe, plus there are countless formal events like graduations and weddings.
“Since the pandemic hit at the start of our busiest season and we didn’t have phase three [of reopening] until the end of the busy season, that knocked us out of our seat,” he said.
But Bradbury said he never considered closing. Instead he asked: “What else can we do?” and focused on other services. “The ‘what else can we do’ has really blossomed,” Bradbury said.
Young Kwak, owner of Cave Spring Cleaners, said her business was down almost 85% initially, but now it’s closer to 50%.
When everyone was staying at home, all they seemed to wear was blue jeans and T-shirts, Kwak said. The alterations side of the business similarly struggled. But business is starting to improve as people return to work and forge ahead with weddings.
Kwak, who runs the business herself without any employees, said she’s been in the dry cleaning business for 20 years and never experienced a downturn like this.
Kwak said she tells herself next month will be better or the month after that; she tries to stay optimistic.
“I have to,” she said.
While the last six months have been challenging, with many days early on when Kwak had little to do, she acknowledges it could have been worse. While hair and nail salons were forced to temporarily close and then operate under restrictions, Kwak was always able to keep her doors open.
Things are starting to improve at the two Roanoke locations of A Cleaner World, said manager Heather Beamer, whose father owns the stores on Brandon and Challenger avenues.
“We’re not down like we were in March and April, but yes, we need everybod
But Bradbury said he never considered closing. Instead he asked: “What else can we do?” and focused on other services.
“The ‘what else can we do’ has really blossomed,” Bradbury said.
Young Kwak, owner of Cave Spring Cleaners, said her business was down almost 85y to start going back to work, going to church, going to weddings, formal events, all of those things,” Beamer said.
Business plummeted suddenly and dramatically. A Cleaner World was healthy and profitable, Beamer said, then the state shut down and not long after that the dry cleaner was temporarily laying off employees. It was the first time her father, who has been in the business for more than 40 years, had to resort to layoffs.
People dressed more casually while working from home, leaving their office wear untouched in the closet.
Even if a nice blouse or blazer is required for a professional meeting occurring via video, Beamer said, you’re likely to wear it for only a short period of time and hang it back up in the closet rather than take it to the dry cleaner.
That both A Cleaner World locations have drive-thrus has been a blessing, Beamer said. Their lobbies remain closed. The business has a system that allows customers to put their credit cards on file and receive text alerts when their items are ready. On pickup, they don’t even have to roll down the window and can just pop the trunk if they prefer.
As the state has opened up more, Beamer said, she’s noticed a slow trickle of returning customers in certain fields, like attorneys and doctors.
Business is now down only 30%, Beamer said, and all of the employees who were laid off were brought back on board.
“We’re going to be fine and we’re going to survive,” she said. “We’re just hunkering down and working really hard and trying to give the best service that we can.”
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September 27, 2020 at 09:00AM
https://roanoke.com/business/local/when-working-from-home-working-in-sweats-where-does-that-leave-dry-cleaners/article_c82b22a6-a47c-550d-baf8-4d5a06486a29.html
When working from home = working in sweats, where does that leave dry cleaners? - Roanoke Times
https://news.google.com/search?q=dry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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