Dry cleaning business becomes covid-19 casualty
For more than 30 years, Wayne Phillips has been getting up at 4:30 every morning in order to be at Village Dry Cleaners at 5:30. He watched fashion and fabrics change. He watched as Bella Vista grew from a quiet retirement village to a bustling city in its own right. He watched employees come and go, and two of his current employees stay for 14 and 15 years. But 2020 bought a new challenge and Phillips couldn’t beat it. Village Dry Cleaners became a casualty of covid-19.
Phillips came to Bella Vista with Cooper Communities. He worked in its computer department for 25 years. When he left Cooper, he thought he would help his wife run her flower shop, but that didn’t work out very well, so he went and found his own business.
He bought the dry cleaning business when it was only two years old. It’s always been located in the same space in Cunningham Corners — at the corner of Riordan Road and Highway 71B. For years, the shopping center had a drainage issue and two or three times a year, Phillips and his staff had to squeegee water out the back door after a heavy rain.
All the work is done in the store except for leather, he said. He’s trained most of his employees over the years, although occasionally someone with dry cleaning experience has appeared. His techniques haven’t changed much over his long career.
In March, when the coronavirus closed restaurants and bars, along with many offices, his business started to slow down.
People working from home don’t wear the type of clothes that need dry cleaning, he explained. He had hoped to sell the business in order to retire, but now the business is just closing.
His customers have told him they are very disappointed. They’ll have to drive another four and a half miles to the nearest dry cleaner.
Phillips has already stopped accepting clothes to be cleaned. He and his staff will work another two weeks, finishing up with the last clothes that came in. Some unclaimed clothes are on racks in the shop. He sells them when they have been in the store for a long time. If there are still clothes left when he’s ready to lock up, he’ll donate them through his church.
Phillips doesn’t have any retirement plans other than to relax for a while. He may look for a part-time job, or he may not. He has one daughter and several grandchildren in the area, as well as one son in the Army.