WACO, TX — As we return back to normal, dry cleaners are nationally seeing an increase in sales.
People are heading back into the office, so the ZOOM wardrobe won't cut it. While we might miss the basketball shorts, dry cleaners in Central Texas couldn't be happier.
Ben Childers, owner of Big Ben's Dry Cleaning said it's been a great first five years in business. He said it had ups and downs but before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was going strong.
"The 13th of March, it just hit the floor, literally I went from full business to 20 percent of where I was," Childers said.
It was anything but smooth after that. He said as everyone moved out of the office and in front of the computer screen, his revenue directed reflected that.
"My sales were on place to do about 650,000 dollars in a year and after COVID hit I was looking at about 150,000 dollars," Childers said.
Sam Mathews has been working for Childers for almost three years. He said he also saw the direct hit.
"During the pandemic, we'd see 100 pieces of clothes a day when we normally would see 500 a day," Childers said. "It affected everybody here, everybody's hours."
"We had six staff in the back, seven in the back working every other day, not cleaning on Tuesday and Thursday," Childers said.
As office doors open, Childers and his business are getting this ironed out.
