This post was originally published on this site
DryClean NYC, which offers pickup and delivery services in Manhattan and the Bronx, has had to cut hours drastically, says owner Elton Cerda.
Elton Cerda/DryClean NYC
Since the city’s phased reopening began in June, New Yorkers have enthusiastically packed tables at outdoor restaurants, gone for socially-distanced haircuts and manicures, and learned to sweat through workouts while wearing a mask. Few, however, have returned to their neighborhood dry cleaner.
Even as the phased reopening began, many residents continued spending most of the day at home and in glorified pajamas, with no events to attend and some offices planning to stay closed through at least summer 2021.
“People aren’t going to the office, they’re not going out to dinner, they’re not going to social functions,” said Wayne Edelman, president and CEO of Meurice Garment Care, which recently closed its longtime Greenwich Village location and is offering pickup and delivery service to the Hamptons. “And as a result, we’re not getting work.”
During the height of the crisis in New York, Edelman said, “We experienced a 90% decline in revenue in our retail business. Now we’re probably trending around the 50% mark.”
That staggering figure is typical for cleaners across the city, said Nora Nealis, executive director of the National Cleaners Association, a trade organization with members in New York.
“The common number to hear was that they were down 90%,” Nealis said. “They were essential for the people who were still working, doing special deliveries for doctors from infectious disease hospitals. Everybody else was working at home in yoga pants and sweatpants. Dry cleaning was nowhere to be found.”
A spokesperson for the New York City Department of Small Business Services said that while the city has no concrete data on dry cleaners and how many have potentially closed during the pandemic, “we know that New York City small businesses are tough and we’re going to do everything we can to ensure they are able to survive.” There are no specific programs designed to help cleaners, but SBS “provide[s] businesses with a host of resources to help them start, operate and grow based on their individual needs,” the spokesperson said.
Nealis estimates that in major northeast cities including New York, approximately 10% of cleaners have either temporarily closed their doors to minimize losses, or shut down permanently.
Another complicating factor: The number of New Yorkers who left the city during lockdown and have yet to return, particularly in wealthy Manhattan neighborhoods.
“Manhattan has been brutal,” said Charlie Tuzzi, managing director of Cameo Cleaners, which is based in the Gramercy neighborhood of the city. “Most of our clients have multiple homes. They’re staying wherever they are.”
Add to all this the fact that the pandemic hit in the spring, a traditionally crucial earning season for most cleaners, and the situation for small-business owners in the industry is dire.
Don’t miss: Here are all the reasons why COVID-19 cases are surging again
“The timing on COVID for dry cleaners was miserable to start with,” Nealis said. “They were just coming off the slow season in January, February, into spring with Passover, Easter [and other events] when they would have seen activity. And that rug got totally pulled out from under them.”
Expanding services and cutting costs
In an effort to keep businesses afloat, some cleaners have expanded their menu, offering pickup and delivery to farther-flung vacation destinations outside the city; launching wash and fold services; and stepping up offerings for home cleaning and disinfection.
“We never did laundry by the pound, now we’re offering personalized laundry, and sending people to sanitize homes and do COVID remediation. It’s the same people we would send in to do post-construction cleaning,” Edelman said. “We’ve had customers that were in the hospital with COVID. Before they came home, we cleaned and sanitized their apartment. You have to shift gears and you have to pivot.”
In some cases cleaners are also reaching out to regulars to offer cleaning of household linens and items that may be getting more use while customers are stuck at home, Nealis said.
But to make ends meet, owners are also making cuts, curtailing both hours and staff.
“We’ve cut down hours tremendously [for employees],” said Elton Cerda, owner of DryClean NYC, which offers pickup and delivery services in Manhattan and the Bronx. “There was no work to be done. Many of those retail locations that used to operate for 12 hours are now just operating five or six hours.”
While Cameo has only made slight adjustments to hours, Tuzzi said, “we have limited staff,” with hours determined by seniority. One staffer picked up a second job at an Amazon fulfillment center, Tuzzi said.
And any cuts serve more as a form of harm reduction than a long-term business strategy. “It’s hard to save yourself into a profit under these conditions,” Nealis said.
The never-ending wait for federal aid
As with most storefront businesses in the city, the biggest financial hurdle for a typical dry cleaner is rent.
“My rent in Manhattan is $13,000 [per month], and if we’re doing the numbers, it’s fine. If we’re not, it’s a lot of money,” Tuzzi said.
Also see: Shopping al fresco: New York City will allow stores to operate outside
Some landlords have been willing to negotiate, while others haven’t budged, and in many cases, even retail tenants who have gotten breaks will have to pay up eventually. “I know there are programs in the city where they’ll help you not get evicted, but the debt is piling up,” Cerda said. “In a business where your profit margin is 10% or so, you’re accumulating a debt that it would take you years to pay back.”
With New York City and the state facing a growing budget crisis, the most likely source of financial relief is the federal government. The U.S. Senate, however, is currently adjourned until Nov. 9 without having passed a second COVID-19 relief package.
“A lot [of cleaners] were anxiously looking for that second stimulus package to come along,” Nealis said. “The failure to deliver on that has been a true heartbreak for them. How do you plan for a ‘maybe?’”
With some cleaners temporarily closed and owners deciding whether reopening is feasible, Nealis said, “what they need is a big hunk of money that they’re not going to have to pay back for a couple of years, and when they do, it’s low interest. This industry is going to take time before it can get back on its feet. They need help.”
Cerda added, “Rent forgiveness would be helpful. At the end of the day we just have to wait for the dust to settle and see how much business is out there.”
Meanwhile, some owners are taking desperate measures to stay afloat.
“You look at the typical neighborhood cleaners, they work hard, this is their investment and what they’ve carved out for themselves,” Nealis said. “When you cut business in half and still have these ongoing fixed expenses, you’re going into kids’ college funds, taking out a mortgage, maxing out credit cards.”
“The list of things they’re trying to do to make it work,” Nealis added, “It’s heartbreaking.”
