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In This Issue
· Sweater
Sale
·
Feature – Focus on Showers and Flowers
·
Ask
the Experts
·
Next
Month Preview
·
And before I close...
And the Winners Are...
$70 Gift Certificate
L. Buck
Westlake
$30 Gift Certificate
M. Biehl
Bay Village
$20 Gift Certificate
M. Carpenter
Westlake
Thank you to all of our customers who filled out our recent Survey.
Update on the St Jude
Dream Home®
The drawing for the Dream Home will be live on Channel 43,
WUAB, on Sunday, April 2nd at 1:00pm.
Buy a red umbrella.
It’s easier to find
among all the black ones,
and it adds a little color
to a rainy day.
Gale's Garden Center - Westlake
Dean's Greenhouse - Westlake
Zergott's - North Olmsted
Cahoon Nursery - Bay Village
Just a few of the area greenhouses/plant
nurseries
Reehorst Cleaners
Corporate Office
27303 Center Ridge Rd
Westlake, OH 44145
Phone:
(440) 871-6444
Fax:
(440) 871-5129
We’re on
the Web!
http://www.reehorstcleaners.com
We have
four convenient locations:
19441 Detroit Rd
Rocky River
440-331-2000
27105 Knickerbocker
Bay Village
(Drive Thru)
440-871-7770
23459 Lorain
Rd
North Olmsted (Drive Thru)
440-777-1400
27303 Center Ridge Rd
Westlake
(Drive Thru)
440-871-6444
Hours:
Monday Thru Friday
7a.m. to 7p.m.
Saturday
7a.m. to 5p.m.
We accept cash, check, MasterCard and Visa
We will never share, sell or rent your personal information.
If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please send
an email to: unsubscribe@reehorstcleaners.com
We respect your privacy. To view our privacy statement, please click here
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Sweater Sale
 Our April special is on sweaters - bring
in 3 sweaters and only pay for the cleaning on 2 of them. The lowest priced
sweater is cleaned for free. Keep your Spring Cotton sweaters fresh and
bright, and ready for the cool evenings. Enhance the color, texture and
feel of your sweaters. Your sweaters will be cleaner, brighter and
restored to their original texture.
Bring your sweaters to any of our 4 convenient,
neighborhood locations during the month of April.
No coupon
required!
Feature – Focus on Showers and Flowers
Speaking of Spring, now's the time to plan your plantings to have that
glorious color for the coming seasons. Our area garden centers are ready to
help you with annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees.
Ask the Experts
Q.
So, we filled out the
Survey and offered you constructive criticism. Are you doing anything
different?
A. Thank you
to all who responded to our survey. We greatly appreciate the positive
comments, and took to heart the not so positive comments, most especially
those regarding shirt quality.
We process several thousand shirts a week, so it meant we had a bit of work to
do. We started by breaking down all of the individual aspects that occur in
laundering and finishing shirts, took a hard look at what we were doing, made
some changes, hired some new people, did some retraining, and more
post-processing inspecting.
When you bring shirts in, you probably imagine rows of home washers lined up
in the laundry, that we use Tide and Clorox, and have a multitude of Aunt
Mildreds lovingly hand ironing your shirts to perfection, just as your Mom
once did.
The reality of a commercial laundry is a bit different! 85-pound programmable
washers, using five different chemicals are used in the laundry. There is not
a dryer or fabric softener sheet to be found. There isn’t an ironing board in
the building. And the last Aunt Mildred retired two generations ago. Large
presses, that run on compressed air and steam, press your shirt with smooth,
hot surfaces. Each of three presses has its own function, the first is just
for sleeves, the next is for cuffs and collars, and a third for the body.
Because of the heat and pressure, only cotton or cotton blend shirts can be
processed in a commercial laundry. Shirts that have rayon, silk, spandex or
polyester would be permanently ruined in the heat and pressure of the presses.
We evaluated the hardness of the water, as well as mineral content. We made
sure the water was at the correct temperature at every step of the washing
process. The first bath uses hot water to shock the dirt out of the shirt.
Then, with each successive cycle, or bath, the water temperature is a bit
cooler than the last. We use approximately 300 gallons of water per load of
120 shirts. We worked with our laundry chemical supplier to make sure that we
were using the best detergents, alkali, buffered sours, dry bleaches and
starch correctly, in the right amount, at the right time. We checked the ph of
the laundered shirt to make sure it is 6.5 or higher so it wouldn’t cause skin
irritation. We made sure the correct amount of starch was being added at the
right time.
If a stain, such as ink, heavy grease, paint or a large amount of blood is not
removed in the washing cycles, we send the shirt to be spotted at our dry
cleaning facility. They have a wider variety of chemicals to address difficult
stains. The shirt is then rewashed. If we cannot successfully remove a stain,
you will see a small tag on the hanger letting you know we have tried our
best. But we stop before we cause color change or fabric damage.
We evaluated the padding, covers, and timing on the triple heads, sleevers and
bucks on which the shirts are finished, (or pressed). We then observed and
re-evaluated the procedures the finishers were using in dressing the machines
to press the shirts. Minor tweaking was needed in some cases, total
elimination in others. The tweaking is an ongoing process. The elimination
part is done.
Inspection of the finished product is being emphasized on a daily basis.
Buttons are always a problem, so we have made it a responsibility of everyone
who touches the shirt to look for cracked or missing buttons. Buttons on
commercially laundered shirts must be able to survive the hot water, as well
as the heat and pressure of commercial pressing. Some are bad from the start;
some become brittle after being processed several times. Very few last the
life of the shirt, as you would expect them to. So, we replace hundreds of
buttons a week!
There is an average of 15 buttons per shirt. Multiply that by several thousand
shirts, and you can see how many buttons we look at in a week. We order cases
of replacement buttons almost monthly, so you can see how many we do replace.
But, being human, we do miss some, and, unfortunately, those are usually on
your
shirt. We promise to be more vigilant.
Assembly and packaging was also evaluated. The shirts that come off of the
press are not yet completely dry, and must have 'curing' time. That means they
cannot be handled for approximately 20 minutes, longer if there is high
humidity in the air, or we can cause 'handling’ wrinkles. The finished shirts
are then assembled with the correct invoice and bagged in special 6” wide bags
to prevent crushing, or folded and boxed. We use rubber bands to secure the
order, yet let the shirts float to minimize crushing.
We will continue working to improve all aspects of producing bright, clean,
well-pressed shirts that you will be proud to wear.
(If you have a question for our
experts, just email us at editor@reehorstcleaners.com)
Next Month Preview
May - Patriotic Holidays are ahead
And Before I Close.....
A thought for Spring:
Buy ladders, extension cords, and garden
hoses
longer than you think you’ll need!
Thanks for reading.
Your Visit
Counts! Thanks.
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