While businesses can endure for years, decades and even centuries, the one thing they can't do is stagnate. Changing economic conditions, shifting societal norms and evolving customer demands put pressure on business leaders to make sure their companies are still serving their clients to the best of their abilities. Dry cleaners are no stranger to this necessity, and the past couple of years have underlined this fact. Keeping up with fluctuating circumstances can mean adding locations, shutting down underperforming storefronts or changing the very way the company interacts with its customers. Anton's Cleaners of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, has seen its fair share of changes during its more than 100 years of operation. Today, the company has 37 locations, with 26 of those being processing plants. "We feel, with the plant, you have more knowledgeable and sophisticated employees on the premises and can offer quicker service," says Arthur C. Anton Jr., the company's chief operating officer. "That's why we had built the business on that sort of model." With that many locations, some tough decisions had to be made during the difficult days of the pandemic. "Since 2019, we've closed seven locations - three in 2019 and four in 2020," Anton says. "Three of those locations had been open for more than 50 years. Those were closed because of COVID, and the decision was all volume-driven. You're not going to pay someone to sit there for 40 hours for just a handful of customers." The slowdown also affected the company's other locations in different ways. "When the floor fell out as COVID hit, we chose to open our locations only 40 hours a week so we could continue to pay our managers their salaries," Anton says. "We also used to offer same-day service, and we rarely do that now." Anton made sure to communicate with his customers to minimize any negative effect these decisions had on their future business.
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