It was almost 100 years ago when Margarito Garcia decided to start the business
now known as Garcia Cleaners in Tucson, Arizona.
Prior to that, he had a similar shop in Hermosillo, Mexico, but the Mexican
Revolution prompted him to head to Tucson and start over in 1909.
That was three whole years before Arizona officially became the 48th (and final
contiguous) state admitted to the US.
At the time, the border between America and Mexico was a much less prominent
boundary.
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“Back then, the border wasn’t necessarily the border we have today. It was more like just a line in the
dirt,” he said. “At that time, this was pretty much still kind of Mexico. There were a lot of
displaced Mexican citizens who were still in the United States. Crossing back
and forth was pretty easy. He was just here. He just set up shop here. It was a
good place to start a business. Everything was moving downtown.”
Originally, Margarito opened at 1909 W. Congress St. with only $25 worth of
equipment, including a few sewing machines, a hot plate and an iron. He called
his company the Tucson Tailoring Co.
The only time Margarito ever returned to Mexico was two years later when he
married his wife, Guadalupe. Shortly after, the couple moved the business to
166 S. Meyer St.
During the Great Depression, business slowed down to a crawl for the Garcia
family, which included Barbara’s father, Roberto, and her uncle, Henry.
During the lean years, the family often had nothing more than watermelon for
dinner. Sometimes, they were creative when it came to rustling up food.
“Also, they would make kind of a Malt-O-Meal with the starch, kind of like a
cereal,” Eddie noted. “Back then, starch wasn’t as refined. It didn’t have any additives. It was pretty much just corn. They would use it for a meal
or a dish. I remember my grandfather telling me stories about that.”
Somehow, the business remained open despite it all. Years later, the second
generation of the family carried on the tradition.
“My uncle and my dad came back from the service and they went into the business,” Barbara said. “That’s when it started with the drycleaning section of the cleaners. Then, they
renamed it Garcia and Sons.”
The business relocated again after Margarito passed away in 1952. This time, the
brothers found a larger location at 159 S. Main. The Garcias proved to be
pioneers at the time by adding a unique feature to the building.
“That was the location of our first drive-thru,” Barbara said. “We were there until 1968. We were where the community center stands right now.”
Tucson's Urban Renewal Project was the culprit to blame for the business having
to move at that time.
“That was kind of like the downfall of our downtown area,” Eddie explained. “There were so many businesses and so much life that was down there. There was a
whole area of booming businesses that were around and they just booted everyone
out of their and displaced them.”
A lot changed that year for the company. It was no longer located at the hub of
downtown, for starters. It was also time for Roberto and Henry to part ways
professionally.
“My uncle did not want to stay in the business,” Barbara said. “My dad still wanted to do it. He loved the drycleaning business. He continued
it, and that’s where we are right now — at 5 E. 22nd St.”
In fact, Garcia Cleaners recently celebrated its 40th anniversary at that
location. Not surprisingly, Barbara has worked at the plant throughout most of
its existence. She always seemed to be around the company when she was growing
up, too.
“I cleaned the bathrooms,” she laughed. “I had to start at the bottom.”
After high school, she attended the University of Arizona intending to become a
school teacher. However, she soon changed her mind and starting working for her
father full time in January of 1969. This time, she started at the front
instead of the bottom.
“I started doing the marking, taking care of customers, tagging in, checking the
clothes and bagging,” she said. “It was a little hard working with my dad because I was the daughter. He was a
little bit lenient, but it was hard. It’s always hard working with family.”
Eddie, like his mother before him, believes that working with family is not
easy, but it is fulfilling.
“The mother-son thing is kind of difficult because if she does something wrong, I
try to tell her and she takes it as a little high school kid complaining about
his mom,” Eddie pointed out. “If I do something wrong and she tries to correct me, it’s like I’m against authority. But then, it always works out in the end.”
Eddie’s brother and sister, Abel and Melisa, also help out with the cleaners on
Saturdays and in the summertime, when they are not teaching school. The family
frequently meets for dinner, which Eddie jokingly calls “board meetings.” Business always comes up.
Eddie first started picking up cigarette butts from the plant’s parking lot when he was ten. Apparently, he had a much more important job when
he was even younger than that.
“My grandfather had some close friends who were contractors and I guess I was
probably five or six years old and me and my grandfather were here at the
office,” Eddie recalled. “One of them came to visit and I guess I told him, ‘I’m the one who runs the cleaners’.”
It took a while for Eddie to hold that position again. After high school, he
attended the University of Arizona for a few years and also worked as the
manager of a local Mexican radio station. Then, he came to work full time at
Garcia Cleaners 15 years ago and has partnered with his mother since.
When Barbara tries to sum up why her family has been able to survive in business
for 100 years and four consecutive generations, only one word comes to mind: “dedication.”
Eddie believes another reason for the success is that the company has maintained
a nice balance of reasonable prices and regal quality.
“We don’t have royalty coming in and bringing their stuff in, but I think we make the
working class look like kings when they leave here,” he said. “We have the experience, the know-how, the customer service. All of the customers
here are persons, not numbers. We try to give customers the most bang for their
buck.”
That bang must be formidable because some customers and their families have been
coming to the cleaners for generations.
“We’re on a first-name basis with our customers,” Eddie said. “We have families where the grandfather has taken in the clothes all the way to
the grandson. It’s like a family affair.”
In fact, some of the “regulars” don’t have a lot of drycleanable garments anymore. Despite that, they still
occasionally show up with a suit or pair of pants as an excuse to catch up.
“They’ll just reminisce about my grandfather or uncle,” Eddie noted.
The close-knit atmosphere extends beyond the owners and customers of Garcia’s, too. According to Barbara, the best advice she has for other cleaners is to
treat employees like family members.
“You have to be honest with your employees because, without your employees, you
don’t have anything. You can’t run the business,” she said.
When Margarito weaved his first stitch, he certainly never imagined that his
granddaughter and great grandson would be cleaning Mariachi outfits and
Treceanera suits and dresses for the same business.
Currently, Barbara and Eddie are working on a calendar to give to their
customers to mark their 100th anniversary. In addition to thinking them for
their patronage, the calendars will honor the special business that started
when Teddy Roosevelt was the U.S. president. Since then, 17 other men have
filled that post (with one more slated to start in 2009).
Last year, the business was honored in another way with a prestigious Lifetime
Achievement Award.
“It was very exciting,” Barbara recalled. “They came in and took pictures. They had a dinner where we were presented with
the award. It was a good award.”
The event was hosted by the Microbusiness Advancement Center and the Minority
and Small Business Alliance of Southern Arizona. It was part of National MED
(Minority Enterprise Development) Week, which recognizes outstanding achievements of minority business owners.
Now, the award is hung proudly on the wall where Barbara and Eddie can see it
every day and be reminded of their family’s rich history. Of course, every corner in the plant seems to hold a precious
personal memory — even the “storage” area.
While being interviewed, Barbara laughed when recalling a memory. Her father
worked many long hours when the business was on Main St. and he hated coming
home dirty. So, when he moved to the present location, he added a special
renovation.
“He put a shower in the office,” she laughed. “So, instead of going home dirty, he would shower here and then go home. It’s a storage place now.”
