Content about Southern California

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Providing good customer service was a common theme among the dry cleaning professionals presenting educational sessions during the recent Fabricare convention in Southern California. And Cleaner’s Supply’s Trudy Adams, the New York-based dry cleaning supplier’s director of customer service and sales, believes nothing is more integral to the health of a service-oriented business.

She opened her presentation by asking the dry cleaning store managers and customer service representatives in the audience to raise their hands. “That’s fantastic, because I’m one of you. I don’t own a business. I am a front-line employee. Front line determines your bottom line.

“You are going to decide whether your business is a success or a failure. You are the most important people in that business when you are at the front counter. You are the face of the business.”

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Brian Wallace, president/CEO of the Coin Laundry Association, was given a daunting task: to capture the audience’s attention during the final hour of a regional dry cleaning and laundry trade show in sunny Southern California.

But his task was no more challenging than one faced by every dry cleaner: to successfully market his or her store(s) in an environment where potential customers have access to information almost instantaneously and from a variety of sources.

On top of all the other “hats” that a dry cleaner “wears”—customer service, maintenance, production, human resources, accounting—he or she can add one more hat to that mix: director of marketing, Wallace told attendees of Fabricare 2012.

“You work incredibly hard for your business, but the fact of the matter is things have changed. … We’re all trying to reinvent ourselves on the fly, trying to deal with the new marketplace. I think that trying to come to grips with some of the new marketing techniques is really an important part of that overall process.”

SAN DIEGO — Margaret’s Cleaners’ 22,000-square-foot plant, formerly an upholstery fabric outlet, was designed from the ground up for servicing couture garments and accessories. Work on the two-story structure began in summer 2009 and continues today.

“That’s who we are,” says Chuck Horst, president of the family-owned company and the plant’s designer. “We’re always making changes. I have two departments in a temporary home as we’re still getting the remainder of those departments set up. … The plant is 95% complete.”

Margaret’s services more than 150 fine retailers. It offers delivery throughout Southern California plus Las Vegas, and nationwide through CleanByMail.

THEY DO

Two professional photo studios are available to keep up with photography demands. One studio is used to document wedding gowns and other garments, before and after cleaning and restoration. The other is used exclusively for Margaret’s luxury wardrobe storage and archive service called Garde Robe.

CHICAGO – The Northeast was the lone bright spot for September dry cleaning sales, posting a 5.7% gain compared to sales for September 2010, according to the latest AmericanDrycleaner.com StatShot survey.

In comparing September 2011 sales to September 2010, the South saw a 1.2% decrease and the Midwest a 1.4% decline. The West was hit the hardest, with sales down 6.1% from a year earlier.

“Even with aggressive promotions, sales continue to slide in Southern California,” reports a Western operator.

The Northeast was also the only region to post gains in third-quarter sales from a year ago. They were up 2.8%. The other regions reported declining sales when compared to the previous year’s July, August and September: South, down 0.9%; Midwest, down 3.1%; and the West, down 4.8%.

LOVELAND, Ohio — Martinizing Dry Cleaning has increased its more than 529-store global presence with the acquisition of Minneapolis-based Dry Cleaning Station.

It’s anticipated that a combination of 10 Dry Cleaning Station full-service plants will initially convert to the Martinizing brand in four markets, including Denver; Southern California; Tulsa, Okla.; and Minneapolis, with other markets to follow, according to Jerry Laesser, Martinizing’s vice president of marketing and franchise development.

CNBC correspondent Jane Wells said that drycleaners could be the source of a new economic index in a blog post Friday — at least in Southern California, where the entertainment writers' strike and flagging real estate market are hurting demand for all kinds of services.