All Star Dry Cleaning and Laundry grows thanks to SBA loan
With the help of an SBA disaster loan, Joe Dunlavy, left, and his grandson Elias expanded their All Star dry cleaning and laundry service with new lockers for customers can pick up their clothes after hours.
The Wichita Eagle
Before the pandemic, Joe Dunlavy and his grandson, Elias, had been wishing to develop their All Star dry cleaning and laundry business. The potential growth through an acquisition didn’t work, but they grew unexpectedly with the help of one of the SBA’s low-interest catastrophe loans.
There are now 24 hour lockers next to the store at 343 S. Greenwich where customers can come anytime to collect their clothes. There is also a chute where they can drop their clothes off at any time.
“There was an insurance agency right between our store and Poblano’s,” said Joe Dunlavy.
The restaurant took up some of the space freed up by the agency to expand its seats, and the Dunlavys created a lobby with lockers.
“We were so lucky that there was space available right next to our main store,” said Joe Dunlavy.
While many cleaners do the pickup and delivery, he said, “We don’t have these big, big-ticket customers who spend a lot every week.”
He said the lockers were a good way to help his clientele while helping his grandson at the same time.
Dunlavy said his grandson, who is the director of the company, has an incredible work ethic and works 12 hours a day to greet customers.
“Maybe it was a way to cut his hours a bit. “
All stars also has lockers at Opti-Life at 21st and Webb Road. Dunlavy called it a concierge cleaning service where clients can drop off laundry and dry cleaning when they go to practice.
Returning to the center of Greenwich, where All Star has been open for 11 years, Dunlavy said the new Da Chicken Shak & More also opened recently by the enlarged restaurant and cleaning areas.
“So this little mall that had been desolate for so long has finally got a new activity, a new life. “