![]() Eventually the box of spare items Sentry Cleaners kept under the counter turned into an entire area of its own. OLeary capitalized on the military population gushing out of the gates who needed not only dry cleaning and pressing but also buttons replaced, patches and chevrons sewn on and uniforms repaired. ![]() He adopted as a logo the image of the British Foot Guards who stand sentry outside Buckingham Palace and elsewhere. While still in that office, he peered out the window to the bases guardhouse and the sentry stationed inside, and took that name instead. Out of respect, he approached the bases public information office for its opinion which was lukewarm. He expanded the building and bought equipment as quickly as he could afford it.Īt first, OLeary wanted to name the business SAC Cleaners, for Strategic Air Command. The land he bought, originally with the intention of establishing an auto repair shop, became Sentry Cleaners, and business was booming almost instantly. That image was imbedded in my mind.Īfter tours in World War II and Korea, OLeary returned home to Massachusetts and bought a parcel of land just off the Westover Air Force Base in 1955. When I came back to that base a year or so later, that cleaners was all spruced up and doing very well. But there was a bunch of money pouring out of that pot. As we left the base, we would stop in that dry cleaners and take our trousers off in a booth, and would press them, and we would toss a dollar or two in the pot and be on our way, OLeary says. Marine Corps at Camp Geiger in North Carolina.Īs you go out the gate, there was a series of businesses: restaurants, gas stations and a couple of dry-cleaning operations. He was putting into action his own observations from his days in the U.S. So when Neil OLeary opened his business, it wasnt by chance that it was adjacent to the main gates of a bustling Air Force base. Even in this age of Internet websites and next-day catalog delivery, really nothing can replace walk-in sales for the bottom line. The right location can make or break a retail store.
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