FAIRFIELD, Ohio — “My customers are my friends in Fairfield,” relates Dave Frey, owner with wife Lil, of Pleasant Run Dry Cleaners which recently celebrated 40 years in business.
The cleaners started in 1978. “I was in the restaurant business, then the trucking business and also was working for my best friend learning dry cleaning,” Frey recollects.
“My uncle was a dry cleaner in 1977. His wife and my mother broke away and started Pleasant Run Cleaners. There was myself, my wife and one presser. And since Day One, my wife Lilli has been doing alterations. Since the start,” Frey says.
“My daughters started in high school working the counter and then pressing, and then learning the whole deal,” Frey says, explaining about family involvement.
The business, he points out, received recognition from the Ohio State Assembly on its 40-year milestone.
“Today, Frey notes, “wet-cleaning shirts is a big part of what we do now. We clean a couple thousand shirts a week now.”
He gives a tip to others in the industry: “Have other sources of cleaning, like comforters and wedding dresses.”
How does the future look?
Frey exclaims: “One of the biggest things keeping me going is my team. There are three people who have been with me for many years, one for 20 years.”
Also talking about his business’s longevity, Frey cites the devoted customers in his town, who are their friends, and notes that, “even if they move away, they come back to get items cleaned.”
He also adds that: “Now my granddaughters work at the business, they are in their 30s.”
Frey concludes: “I’m gonna be here ’til I can’t walk anymore!”
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