CONCORD, N.C. — If you missed it, well, you missed “It.”
The Clean Show was the biggest and I believe the best in a long time. The show floor went on forever. Those souls who had allotted only one day to meet, greet and evaluate, found themselves having to make some hard choices on time spent at a booth and the willingness of feet, ankles and knees to go forward.
Answers were available around each corner. I constantly overheard variations on the theme: “I didn’t know you could do that,” or “I didn’t know they made that.”
One of the show sponsors, the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), came to the Clean Show offering another benefit for its members at any level of membership above the basic level. The Encyclopedia of Drycleaning is now available to members as a phone app and is available online.
For the first time, some of the educational sessions were offered during show hours, in a theatre setting just off the show floor. Everything needed to “trick out” a cleaning plant could be found on the floor, all under one roof.
It was common to walk up on a newbie chatting with a 40-year veteran. Each exchanging ideas of their vision of the perfect drycleaning business model, while also hearing other owners excited to find an idea to help them prosper.
The cliché says: “You should have been there.” That is certainly true of the Las Vegas Clean Show.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].