Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994 TAG: 9404070172
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-19 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH COX SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jones and his brother, William K. "Bill" Jones, took over this family business that included the dry cleaners and coin-operated laundry from their father, Pitzer Kyle "P.K." Jones, who started the business with Robert Carter in 1946. P.K. Jones became sole owner of the business at 11th Street and Fairfax Avenue Northwest in the 1950s.
In 1966, Carter & Jones - the name was retained for customer recognition - moved to a new facility on Melrose Avenue, about five miles away, to expand.
Another factor in the move, Bud Jones said, was that the 11th Street clientele had changed from a working, middle-income level to senior citizens with less spending power.
Thirty years later, the Melrose Avenue neighborhood is undergoing some of those same changes, Jones said, but "business has stayed relatively good." It also has recovered from a late 1980s slowdown brought on by hazardous waste and clean air regulations.
But he thinks one of the main reasons the dry cleaner has been successful is that it has branches that are solely drop-off and pick-up depots.
Carter & Jones opened branches in Salem and Hollins in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A depot on Peters Creek Road, only a mile from the main office, broke even but did not make a profit, so the owners decided to close it.
Although all dry cleaning is done at the Melrose facility, Carter & Jones has depots in Blacksburg, Daleville and at Southwest Plaza and the Brambleton Avenue Plaza. Jones says this makes the business more accessible to customers.
Carter & Jones no longer has coin-operated laundries but it has expanded services to include alterations, leather and suede cleaning, cleaning and storing furs and storing winter clothes. The company also cleans draperies and rugs.
Carter & Jones also has a route pick-up and delivery service, "and not many are doing that any more," Jones said.
Bud Jones said he and his brother learned not only about the business from their father but also about quality.
The brothers were in junior high school when they began to help their father by straightening coat hangers, bagging garments, waiting on customers and answering the phones after school. So, said Jones, it was a natural thing after college in 1965 to go into the business.
The brothers worked with their father for four or five years before starting their own business, Mr. Formalwear. When their father died of a heart attack in 1976, Bud Jones took over the dry-cleaning business. Bill Jones still operates Mr. Formalwear.
"My father, when he started, wanted a quality and service business, and we've always tried to continue to offer quality in the Roanoke Valley. Our customers say they take their regular clothes to someone else, but [bring] their nice ones to us. Our prices are comparable, or maybe a few extra pennies, but we feel they get a better quality product," said Bud Jones.
Jones said that basically all larger cleaners offer comparable services, so he believes that the dry-cleaning establishments near him are his greatest competition. The number one reason people pick a dry cleaner is convenience.
"If they get dissatisfied, they will switch to someone else."
Carter & Jones Dry Cleaning Inc. at 4026 Melrose Ave. N.W. The telephone number is 362-3751.
by CNB