Dry Cleaner Battle: Dependable Cleaners versus Zoots
As a professional, I try to dress appropriately. Most of the time I wear collared, button up shirts that require ironing. While I can iron and have many times, it doesn't seem efficient to do so.
So I use a dry cleaner. I used to have them put starch on the shirt when pressed, but now I skip it. I hear it shortens the lifespan of clothes by making them more brittle.
In my neighborhood, there are two chain dry cleaners: Dependable Cleaners and Zoots. Today I always use Dependable Cleaners, though I did use Zoots for a brief hiatus. My problem with Zoots is the general attitude they took towards me as a customer and potential vendor. In my humble opinion, they seem to think that by having a fancy name and some investors, they are very important people! (VIP)
Let me explain, I called on their corporate office to inquire if they had any need for a software service my company provides. I got routed to their CFO, and left a message. He actually called back, and in about 20 seconds without hearing me out that they had no need for my services and simply hung up. I was dumbfounded. Talk about professional courtesy. I had heard that they were founded by former Staples executives so I expected more. Word has it that several of their marketing executives has migrated on to Work N Gear, and are fouling things up there pretty bad.
Speaking of which Work N Gear has a great concept, but such awkward execution I can only wonder they have lasted this long. I hope that they can pull it together.
Dependable Cleaners on the other hand has a staff that is much more respectable and humble. My friends Randy and Trip worked for Dependable Cleaners when in high school, and the company always respected them and treated them well. As a customer, I've always been well respected there too. Believe me, that goes a long way. I think that Dependable Cleaners is a family owned business, so that might have something to do with it. In fact, I think one of the family members might own an interior design shop in East Milton Square, which for a long time I found ironic because of the "humble" appearance of Dependable Cleaners stores. They have since upgraded their look and it makes a huge improvement. I'll see if I can take a snapshot of the new look to upload here.
Do you have a favorite dry cleaner?
So I use a dry cleaner. I used to have them put starch on the shirt when pressed, but now I skip it. I hear it shortens the lifespan of clothes by making them more brittle.
In my neighborhood, there are two chain dry cleaners: Dependable Cleaners and Zoots. Today I always use Dependable Cleaners, though I did use Zoots for a brief hiatus. My problem with Zoots is the general attitude they took towards me as a customer and potential vendor. In my humble opinion, they seem to think that by having a fancy name and some investors, they are very important people! (VIP)
Let me explain, I called on their corporate office to inquire if they had any need for a software service my company provides. I got routed to their CFO, and left a message. He actually called back, and in about 20 seconds without hearing me out that they had no need for my services and simply hung up. I was dumbfounded. Talk about professional courtesy. I had heard that they were founded by former Staples executives so I expected more. Word has it that several of their marketing executives has migrated on to Work N Gear, and are fouling things up there pretty bad.
Speaking of which Work N Gear has a great concept, but such awkward execution I can only wonder they have lasted this long. I hope that they can pull it together.
Dependable Cleaners on the other hand has a staff that is much more respectable and humble. My friends Randy and Trip worked for Dependable Cleaners when in high school, and the company always respected them and treated them well. As a customer, I've always been well respected there too. Believe me, that goes a long way. I think that Dependable Cleaners is a family owned business, so that might have something to do with it. In fact, I think one of the family members might own an interior design shop in East Milton Square, which for a long time I found ironic because of the "humble" appearance of Dependable Cleaners stores. They have since upgraded their look and it makes a huge improvement. I'll see if I can take a snapshot of the new look to upload here.
Do you have a favorite dry cleaner?
posted by instoremarketer at 7:05 PM
6 Comments:
I love zoots, and so do thousands of others. The reason being is that they are truly eco friendly, not like some locals claiming to be. Zoots was just this past month featured in Inc. Magazine's Top 50 Green companies in the U.S. due to it's commitment to "perc free" cleaning, let's see 1 other cleaner in the nation that can claim this! Thousands of women choose zoots due to this fact and the fact that there is absolutely no risk of breast or any other kind of cancer when you wear clothing dry cleaned by zoots cleaners.
I have to agree about the eco friendly part, it is really awesome. I was under the impression that Dependable had recenlty switched to this... time to do some investigating!
Dependable is eco-friendly and uses the same dry cleaning solution as Zoots. They also use eco-friendly soaps for shirts. I like them because the people at the store really seem to care about what they do.
Hi Verna, Thanks for commenting. I thought Dependable was eco-friendly. Do you know if they are "perc-free"?
Yes, Dependable is perc-free.
Have you heard about their reading program Read to Ride?
Well, it's hard to blame you folks for your lack of knowledge regarding the dry cleaning industry and the solvents used therein, but why couldn't Inc. Magazine bother to check the facts? Zoots uses Exxon's DF2000 solvent, a petroleum derivitive. Recently, UMass Lowell studied all the solvents commonly used in dry cleaning and found that DF2000 is a greater air bourne pollutant than Perc is, and contributes to smog. California knew this years back after foolishly approving DF2000 as a eco-friendly alternative to Perc because they took Exxon's word for it - just as you and Inc. Magazine take Zoots' word for it. But wait, it gets better - DF2000 is a worse ground contaminate than Perc is, according to UMass researchers - and is still a ground water contaminate just like Perc. As far as cancer goes, ALL dry cleaning solvents are treated within the industry as carcinogens though there has NEVER been a study to prove this. (Many pseudo agencies just claim them to be without citing actual research; or some vaguely cite research from the 70's which was discredited by its own authors due to the level of natural occuring cancer in the rats used for the study...but I digress). Exxon's product, used by Zoots and Dependable, just isn't as good of a cleaning solvent (it has a lower kg factor than Perc) but because Exxon says so, it can be marketed as "earth friendly"!
Every company today sees "green" for green ($), the marketing of "earth friendly" products is truly humorous if you bother to think about the product. And as far as breast cancer goes...I thought every person capable of reading was aware of what an utter pile of (junk science) that "study" done in Newton was, but again, some use those fears and package marketing campaigns that play upon them. Did you know Exxon is the record holder for corporate profit?
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