CHICAGO — The decline of Blockbuster’s DVD rental business that led to bankruptcy and the closure of hundreds of its brick-and-mortar stores across the country last year is a wake-up call for drycleaners, warns “The Route Pro” James Peuster.
Why? Because drycleaning and Blockbuster have something in common: it’s necessary to make two trips for service.
“You rent a movie, you go home, you return it next time,” he says. “You drop off clothes, go home, you pick them back up. Very few retail situations require two trips for service. This is why routes are now essential.”
But the drycleaner who is considering starting route service better be serious about it, Peuster says, because not being fully invested in the effort can create more headaches than they’re worth.
For 10 years, Peuster has been an “on- and off-site coach, specifically for routes.” The goal of his consulting business is “to make sure people do routes right, or not at all.”
