The COVID pandemic has taken its toll on jobs, travel, and everyday citizens. However, there is a forgotten victim that is suffering more than most people know: dry cleaners.
Current Events :
In case you haven’t noticed, dry cleaners are being forced to close all across the country. According to CBS, the rise in store closures is due to changing customer habits during the pandemic combined with worsening inflation.
For example, more employees are working from home these days and skipping going to the office altogether. Additionally, fewer people are going out on a regular basis to bars, restaurants, and other social events. This means customers no longer require regularly dry-cleaned suits and dresses or freshly starched shirts.
“The landscape’s changed,” said Wayne Edelman, owner of Meurice Garment Care in the Bronx, NY, and a board member of the National Cleaners Association. He believes former customers are spending more time at home on Zoom and keeping their attire casual, which hurts the bottom line — especially for smaller mom-and-pop shops.
“Thirty percent of the stores, if you go down the street and you take a look at, and you look at cleaners, you’ll see that those locations are gone,” Edelman added.
Other New Yorkers who were once regular dry cleaning customers agree.
“It’s easier to do it myself or buy fabrics that I could take care of myself,” Brooklyn resident Claire Barker said.
“I definitely make use of my dry cleaner but not as much as I was before,” Manhattan resident Darryl Nipps said. “I’m working from home a lot more, so not wearing the shirts and suits and ties that I used to wear as much as before.”
Not only are dry cleaners getting fewer customers these days, but the costs for cleaning solutions, hangers, wrapping materials, gas for delivery trucks, and rent have all doubled or even tripled for most businesses, which has caused some stores to go out of business.
Peter Blake, the executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Cleaners, which represents 350 storefronts in the District, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, said that the number of closed outlets in his area — about 10 to 15% of the industry — could double by the end of this year.
“There were all these different edicts — who can stay open and who can close — that was all undetermined for a while,” Blake said. “At one point it didn’t really matter, because no one was coming out anyway.”
Although some dry cleaners have seen a bit of an increase in customers, others have been forced to shift their operations out of a storefront entirely.
Still, others are hanging by a thread — dreading the day they will join those businesses that have closed for good.
OK WASSUP! covers Current Events:
Dry Cleaners and the COVID crisis.
The COVID pandemic has taken its toll on jobs, travel, and everyday citizens. However, there is a forgotten victim that is suffering more than most people know: dry cleaners. […] – DJ
When I was a child growing up, my parents used the dry cleaners all the time to take care of their nicer clothing. My dad – his dressy shirts, in particular. My mom – her beautiful church dresses and work outfits.
As an adult, I used to use the dry cleaners a little. But I must admit, I can’t remember the last time I used the dry cleaners at all.