National Clothesline

Sad is the individual who refuses to learn the lessons our past has taught us, and bankrupt is the drycleaner who will not act to change an intolerable condition before it is too late.

I refer to the drycleaner who claims his area has too many drycleaners and that the point of saturation has been reached. Add to that such conditions as prices dropping, stores staying open longer, coupons and give-aways everywhere, all of which bring little new volume but rob the profit picture still further.

Now if we add on a rent increase, a salary increase and numerous and costly regulations, it may be time for that drycleaner to take the wise and prudent action of closing the door.

Are there other alternatives? Certainly, one could relocate or sell off the equipment (costly, but probably necessary) or, if possible, sell to the larger cleaner in town that could use the space for expansion and incorporate into a local chain.

How did business get that bad to begin with? That is a tale of woe that might have been prevented before the key was turned. The question we face now is that store ready for a doctor or the undertaker?

Here is where that lesson in history comes in.

The year was about 1972 or 1973 when the first disaster struck and it was in the form of “wash n’ wear” polyester shirts. The drycleaner doing 5,000 shirts a week suddenly went to 1,000.

The drycleaning dropped significantly with an equal amount due to polyester, washable dresses, blouses, ladies’ and men’s slacks, which could be simply washed and it was ready to wear.

The marginal, poor operations went out first, while the smart drycleaner started marketing, packaging and merchandising, mindful that quality was foremost in his now threatened operation. Every competitor’s failure gave him a small boost in keeping solvent, and maintaining some of his volume. Basically, the pie slices got larger with each bankruptcy.

The next factors are part of the history, such as return of wool and wool blends, and the wife becoming a partner in the earnings, which had a great two-fold effect: She was too busy to do all the laundry; and she was also a better drycleaning customer than her husband. The volume started coming back.

Now history is somewhat repeating itself. Does any drycleaning customer have difficulty in finding a drycleaner? I think not. It seems wherever seven stores go up, one of them will be a drycleaner and, most important, at an astronomical rent, with triple net, lease conditions and maximum five-year terms.

This article has been rather negative and it is not my intention to make someone sick and then make them better. Hopefully I will be making those operators who are under severe competition take this history lesson seriously.

The first fact I can disclose is no one went out of business because he did too good a job. He charged for his work as well and, as a professional, knew exactly what his costs actually were.

Next, as a manager he knew where to increase his volume and to receive his market share. I refer to managerial skills and not to skill on the spotting board or pressing, but advertising with a goal and getting a fair rate of return.

There were also many operators who were advocates of that expression “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

These tough gents seized every opportunity to give their customers no reason to go anywhere but to them. One-stop shopping and gas prices supported this strategy.

Here I make reference to the specialized gown cleaner, tuxedo rental, drapery clean and hang service, leather cleaning, etc., to name a few. There are dozens of additional services those cleaners attempted that were adaptable to their location and business.

Can we adopt those systems years later and hope they will save us from ruin? Will they still apply today? How far can a drycleaner go with diversification?

Can you learn from history to make the future better? Remember, some of smartest and most successful generals the world ever saw were history majors.