TRAVERSE CITY — Colleges and universities were the first to change formats in early March.
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 trickled down to Michigan K-12 schools days later. An extended spring break came first, remote learning for the rest of the school year soon after.
Michigan bars and restaurants were closed to dine-in service at 3 p.m. on March 16, 2020. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive also shuttered gyms, coffee houses, and most public places. Hair salons followed suit March 21.
A summer of restrictions and limitations was followed by another round of restaurant dine-in denials that began Nov. 18, 2020 and lingered until Feb. 1, 2021.
No business was totally immune to the effects of the coronavirus, but one industry felt the weight of it all, pressing down across any number of different levels.
“We’re down about 65 percent over 2019 from 2020,” said Jon Conant, the owner of Master Dry Cleaners and Elite Dry Cleaners in Traverse City.
It’s a similar story in Benzie County, where Robbie’s Dry Cleaners operates at 1681 Benzie Highway. Mary Riegler has owned the business since 1983 and can quote her gross revenue figures from 2019 and 2020. She doesn’t want to do the math, but it’s a more than 53 percent drop.
“That hurts,” Riegler said. “When I see that on paper, that’s when it hits home.”
Going to the ‘office’
Home is one of the main reasons dry cleaners are in a predicament.
According to Remoters.net, its free remote job board postings more than doubled from 51 in February 2020 to 105 in December. ‘Work from home’ queries in Google U.S. grew 309 percent from March 2019 to March 2020.
More remote jobs translates into fewer work clothes — and less demand for dry cleaning. Conant said the decline in “shirt laundry” has been precipitous.
“If you can work from home, you must,” Conant said. “That’s a lot of our bread and butter work right there. Instead of going to the office and wearing a suit and tie, they’re staying home and working in their pajamas.”
“(Dress) shirts are down to practically nothing because nobody is wearing them,” added Riegler, who joked that no one is having their sweat pants dry cleaned. She said Robbie’s will dry clean sweats — if someone is so inclined.
The impact of the pandemic also is being felt outside northern Michigan. It’s been harsh on MILD, the Michigan Institute of Laundering & Drycleaning.
Conant, the immediate past president of MILD, said 60 dry cleaners in the state closed in 2020.
“It’s not just hurting our business, it’s hurting our association, too,” he said.
Michelle Batora, executive director of MILD, was unsure on the exact closure figures.
“Obviously we know that the industry is facing very serious challenges,” Batora said in an email.
Jon Conant’s wife, Pam, is a member of the Wedding Gown Association. It’s another aspect of the dry cleaning business in the red.
“Weddings are also a big thing for us,” he said. “We do wedding gowns and that’s not happening.”
As 2020 has shown across the economic climate, the pandemic is the ultimate accelerator and dry cleaning is no different. Conant said work attire is drastically different than the decades before.
“It’s part of it,” Conant said. “But that’s been a trend that’s been going on for years. As a society we dress more casual than we used to.”
The idles of March
Whitmer ordered all non-essential businesses to temporarily close on March 24. Some industries blurred the lines on the definition of essential.
Dry cleaners closed in March. But Riegler and Conant still weren’t clear about it.
Robbie’s Dry Cleaners closed for about three weeks. In Traverse City, Master and Elite closed for about five weeks.
“It took us that long to get clarification whether we are essential or not,” Conant said.
The reopening focus was on restaurants and retail as Memorial Day weekend approached in 2020. But with restrictions in place on travel to other regions of the state, dry cleaners were still hurting.
Riegler said downstate visitors didn’t come to northern Michigan in the same numbers as in prior years. Those who did come north stayed in place and didn’t go out as much, whether because of restrictions or choice.
She said it was a big blow to the bottom line.
“The pandemic didn’t only hit us up here,” she said. “The summer people, when they left, that was a double whammy. Everybody talks about the restaurants and the small businesses. Nobody ever said, ‘That’s hurting dry cleaners.’”
Reducing hours, workers
The pandemic really hurt Riegler and Conant when it came to employees and hours of operation.
Riegler has two female employees and gives them as many hours as she can. Often, though, Riegler doesn’t have enough work to offer. Her employees use unemployment to fill in the gaps.
“I have the girls come in when I have enough hours for them to work,” said Riegler, who has owned Robbie’s since 1983.
Riegler said the staff used to dry clean 100 shirts a day in 2019. Now she handles much of the work herself.
It’s a similar tale in Traverse City.
Conant had to layoff 10 of his 22 employees at Master Dry Cleaners and three of his eight at Elite Dry Cleaners.
“It’s a skeleton crew we’re working with now,” said Conant, who took over the role of delivery driver.
Master Dry Cleaners, formerly Meach Cleaners, opened in 1949. The Conant family has owned the business since 1977. Jon’s father and stepmother, Dennis and Judy, ran Master Dry Cleaners until he took it over Jan. 1, 2008.
“The perfect year to take on a business,” Jon Conant joked about the economic recession.
Jon Conant acquired Elite Dry Cleaners in January of 2013. He said the deal helped a struggling Elite to stay in business and also kept 12 people employed.
“I kind of wanted our customers to have options,” Conant said. “That’s a separate operation over there. As time went on, we decided to close the production part of that down.”
Conant centralized production to one facility, at 725 E. Eighth St. That trimmed Elite personnel from 12 to eight.
Elite Dry Cleaners still has two locations, 501 W. Front St. and 3359 S. Airport Road West.
The Master Dry Cleaners facility on Eighth Street remains open for drive-thru only from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The other locations, at 120 W. State and 2434 Holiday Rd., have been reduced to 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Robbie’s Dry Cleaners is still open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. But instead of being open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, Robbie’s is only open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Making alterations
Conant estimates that in normal times, 70 percent of business at Master Dry Cleaning is related to business attire and weddings. The other 30 percent includes leather cleaning, sports gear, drapery and blinds.
“All of those are down as well,” Conant said.
Master Dry Cleaners has seen one area of its business rise during the pandemic.
“The one thing that’s really helped is household cleaning (bedding and comforters). That’s the one thing about COVID, people don’t want their germs on the bedding.”
Riegler estimates 75 percent of Robbie’s business involves dress clothes, drapes and comforters.
Conant said many dry cleaners in Michigan, and even those nationally, have expanded into “regular” residential laundry.
“That part of the business has gone up statewide,” he said.
He’s considering expanding one of Master Dry Cleaners’ services.
“We’re moving into home delivery and pick-up,” he said. “We already do it for commercial. We’re going to try to move to more of that because we think that’s successful.”
It’s just a part of doing whatever it takes right now, Conant said.
“We’re doing what we need to do to get through it,” he said. “We got a Paycheck Protection Program the first time and I don’t know what we would have done without that.”
Riegler said Robbie’s has the same approach. She offers services like laundry and sewing.
“I don’t know what else I could do to fill in,” Riegler said. “You still need people and they’re not going out yet.”
Conant said he recently had a customer drop off items that in normal years wouldn’t require dry cleaning.
“We have some really determined customers trying to help us through it as well,” Conant said.
Holding out hope
Despite the downturn, Conant and Riegler are holding out hope for the future.
Conant said spring and fall are the busiest times for dry cleaners as people make wardrobe changes. The spring of 2020 essentially dried up, but Conant is cautiously optimistic about 2021.
“We’re hopeful this spring,” he said. “With the vaccine being more ready available and people feeling more confident getting out to the house, we’re looking to rebound in the spring.”
Riegler echoed Conant’s sentiment for 2021.
“I hope so,” she said. “God, I hope so. It can’t get much worse. I’m looking where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We all are.”
The Link LonkFebruary 14, 2021 at 11:19PM
https://www.record-eagle.com/news/business/dry-2020-for-dry-cleaners/article_e1b2bc58-6c84-11eb-a27d-cf0f61847890.html
Dry 2020 for dry cleaners | Business - Traverse City Record Eagle
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