For Immediate Release
East Hills Cleaners Expands Services – Resilience and Determination
during hard Economic Times
Stanberry, Albany MO –
Tonya McCrea has owned East Hills Cleaners for 2 1/2 years in St Joseph. She currently provides drop off locations in Atchison, Leavenworth, Maryville, Hiawatha and Savannah. Now she is expanding her drop off services, starting July 10th, 2020, to Stanberry at the Olive Branch Boutique, Albany at the Washboard Laundry Mat and in Bethany at Foster’s. She says, “Recently, I also purchased an existing dry cleaner in St. Joseph (Clean Beginnings) I shut the location down and run all production and storefront out of the 3603 Faraon location. I am expanding into the rural area even more now because the pandemic is forcing me to acquire business in more areas. I believe that being a convenience to small rural areas will increase sales for us. Think of us not only for clothing but also for comforters, curtains, rugs and household items such as cushions.”
Tonya explains the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on her business: “The pandemic urged me to research my profession and get better at what I do. While sitting at the counter day after day when everything was closed, but we were essential and open – I worked hours to determine how I could improve my business. I contacted dry cleaning organizations and have met new dry cleaning owners that have been a wealth of knowledge to me. I invested in my company with our new heat seal system as well as have reconfigured out space to allow more production in our small area.”
As some small businesses fail during these hard times, Tonya McCrea has identified the formula that will keep her business going. Thinking outside the box, resilience and research and strong determination to rise to the occasion. Tonya says, “The pandemic threatened my business. People are not working in their offices but are meeting thru Zoom, etc and working from home. I don’t anticipate all our customers ever going back to the workplace. There will be many people that don’t travel for work and therefore don’t need a suit or dress clothes for everyday work. Companies will decide that their employees can work from home and get the same workload done. Companies won’t need the overhead of large office buildings, etc. I simply have taken the pandemic and created a positive from a tough and scary situation. You can’t lay down and hope the business will reappear because it’s not going to come back that easy. It’s the strong work ethic and the attitude that I can outwork the pandemic and come back stronger than ever.”
Whether or not life will be changed post-pandemic, it is clear that businesses like Tonya’s must rise to this challenge, find new ways of doing what they do and work harder than ever.
