The 'Greener' Dry Cleaner

The 'Greener' Dry Cleaner

By Carolyn S. Peterson

The popular phrase and movement today is ’Going Green’. Interest in being environmentally conscience is every day choices, like ’paper or plastic’ at the grocery store, has brought businesses that have ’Gone Green’ to the forefront.

One business in Winston-Salem, The Dry Cleaning Station, is the only ’green’ dry cleaner in the Triad. For husband and wife, Bill and Gray Patton, owners and operators of The Dry Cleaning Station, their chosen system of cleaning has not only carved out a niche in a saturated industry, but is making strides in bringing awareness to chemicals used in standard dry cleaning. “The system of cleaning that we us is called ’Green Earth’. The basis for the cleaning is silicone, which is non-irritating to the skin, completely odorless, gentle on fabrics and safe to the environment,” said Bill Patton. The end product of the ’Green Earth’ system breaks down into the environmentally safe components of water, carbon dioxide and sand.

The Pattons, along with their daughter, Julien, opened The Dry Cleaning Station in February 2005, after corporate downsizing and changes in their lives brought them to research possible franchise opportunities. “We really felt like we were getting in on the ground floor of the ’Going Green’ movement. Having a product to offer to the community that cleans, is non-allergenic, nonirritating and odorless and safe for the environment is the basis for the ’Green Earth’ cleaning,” stated Gray Patton. The Dry Cleaning Station is a full service dry cleaner with cleaning offered not only for basic clothing items, but for rugs, draperies, comforters, bed spreads, leather products with a shoe repair service thrown in the mix. “We have access to a local alterations person with 30 years of experience and a company that will preserve wedding gowns after we’ve cleaned them. Our shoe repair has become quite popular with people dropping off their cleaning and shoe repairs at one place,” stated Gray Patton.

An additional convenience for customers is the pick-up and delivery service that The Dry Cleaning Station offers. To keep the route efficient, the Pattons use an email system to remind customers of the pick-up, if they reply, Gray Patton includes  them on her route. The pick-up and drop-off service is a free service and operates on a Monday and Thursday schedule.

Currently the route services areas in the western, northern and center parts of Winston-Salem, with plans to expand to Clemmons and Advance.

The Dry Cleaning Station keeps its prices in line with other comparable dry cleaners, but they pride themselves on the customer service they offer, the product they use to clean and the results in their customers’ satisfaction. As Bill Patton stated, “We are a premium dry cleaner and we want each item that we clean to be pleasing to the customer. Otherwise, we want to know so we can improve on our service. If you don’t know that you do something wrong, then you can’t improve on it. Feedback is very important to us.”

Not only are the Pattons involved at the street level, greeting customers and handling their concerns, but they own and operate the plant where all the items brought in for cleaning are cleaned, including from any franchises sharing the name The Dry Cleaning Station in Greensboro and Kernersville.

Reaching the community through charities in the area is  mportant to the Pattons. “Through our church, we have worked with the Samaritan Inn. When we became busy to the point that volunteering wasn’t possible, we decided to place a jar on the counter with information on a highlighted charity, which we change on a monthly basis. We also sell Attraction Books for $25, with $10 going into the charity of the month on our behalf,” said Gray Patton. From October to May, a fundraiser for local schools that The Dry Cleaning Station offers is called ’Education in the Green’. When a school registers with The Dry Cleaning Station, customers can identify with a registered school and at the end of each month, the Pattons write a check for 5% of the total associated with each school. “Although we’ve been approved by the WS/FC school system for 3 years, we’ve had very few schools to sign up. We hope to get the message out on this program,” commented Gray Patton. Although we can’t change the damage done already to our planet, through companies and services like The Dry Cleaning Station offers, we can make tomorrow ’cleaner’ in a variety of ways for ourselves and our families.

The Dry Cleaning Station is located at 110 Oakwood Dr., Suite D in Winston-Salem. Hours of operation are : Mon-Fri 7 AM-7 PM, Sat. 9 AM- 3PM. Next day service is offered every day except on Saturdays.