Max I. Walker Uniform Rental Vice President Chris Walker wasn’t trying to be clever when he used the phrase “tightly-knit” to describe his company, whose two primary divisions are dry cleaning and uniform rental. Nonetheless, it’s a perfect metaphor for many reasons, from the company remaining family-owned for more than a century to the evolution of a spectrum of related services that has been developed over time in response to customer needs.
“We’ve lasted through the Great Depression, World War II, the COVID-19 pandemic—the city’s history, the country’s history, the company’s history,” Chris said. “Simply put, companies just don’t [usually] make it five generations, and we’re proud [that we have].”
“We’ve been able to employ lots of people in the community and give back to the community over the years, through all of those challenging times in unique ways and creative ways,” said Casey Walker, who serves as vice president of Max I. Walker’s retail division. “We’ve kept our business running, but also gave back to the community through all of those difficult times, too.”
One example of adaptation, Casey said, was bringing female workers at all levels to the then-male-dominated dry cleaning sector during World War II. “Overnight, women became the stars of the show, and our grandfather, Bob Walker, Jr., wanted it that way,” he explained.
“Female managers at the stores was kind of unheard of at that time,” Chris said. “But that was a trend that stuck, and we’ve had a lot of success there.”
One of the biggest challenges for the U.S. dry cleaning industry was the introduction of easy-care fabrics and “leisure suits” in the 1970s, or as Casey called it, the “polyester revolution.”
“That was a major headwind for the industry, and a lot of dry cleaning places were lost during that time,” he said. “But that is also when we started uniform rental, a pivot and a diversification at that time.”
“Garments used in uniform rental are heavy on polyester,” Chris added. “In 1974, it was a perfect opportunity to start renting those polyester work garments on the uniform rental side.”
The uniform rental division of the company is still going strong half a century later.
Another major change for the company in more recent decades was reducing the environmental impact of dry cleaning chemicals and processes.
“In the last 30 to 40 years, the push towards green and reuse has been huge,” Casey said. “That translates to the dry cleaning process being a complete net-zero, as far as water use and chemical use, because everything used is extracted in the machine. It seems like the ‘dirtiest’ way to clean clothes, but it’s actually the cleanest because it’s a closed-loop system. On the uniform side, I would say reuse of water has been huge.”
The company has also adopted products and practices like reusable bands to bundle multiple pieces in customers’ dry cleaning orders, digital coupons, a metal hanger reuse program, and offering sturdy bags for dirty laundry that are cleaned along with the customer’s clothing and then used to cover the hanged garments instead of plastic.
Although the business of cleaning clothing is always going to be fundamentally mechanical, Chris said, computer technology has made record-keeping, tracking, and other administration easier.
“It helps the customer in that we can tell them exactly where their garments are in the system,” he said. “It feeds both sides, customer facing and internal, and plays somewhat of a factor into green efficiencies and just efficiencies overall.”
Max I. Walker now serves the community through 10 dry cleaning locations throughout the Omaha and Council Bluffs areas, as well as a pick-up and delivery service. Besides dry cleaning, the company offers laundry services, wedding dress cleaning and preservation, leather and suede cleaning, repairs and alterations, and special handling for bed linens, window coverings, and area rugs.
The uniform service is based out of Omaha and delivers to and picks up from around a thousand businesses in the region every week. Those customers can additionally order entryway mats, dry and wet mops, shop and bar towels, and other janitorial products. Max I. Walker also delivers restroom supplies from hand soap and sanitizer to paper towels and toilet paper.
One aspect of business that would be instantly recognizable to Max I. Walker customers of any decade, Chris said, is personal customer service.
“In almost every other aspect of people’s lives, you pick up the phone and you’re talking to either someone on the other side of the world at a call center or you’re rifled through all these channels. It’s very difficult to get to a human being who has answers or to walk up to a counter and just have a genuine interaction with someone at a place of business,” he said. “Outside of what people are wearing, and the slang terms people use and how language changes, and the cars people drive, the individual experience on both sides of the business is largely unchanged. You’re going to talk to a local human being the first time, whether you call or you go up to a counter.”
“The majority of our dry cleaning locations still do the cleaning on site, and there’re very few dry cleaners left in the country that still operate that way. It is a better customer experience,” Casey said. “It remains unchanged that you’re talking with the people doing the cleaning of your garment. You know that you’re in trusted hands.”
For more information, visit maxiwalker.com.
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of B2B Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
