Hacienda Cleaners Picks Up and Delivers

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

A good local dry cleaner is something that you can easily take for granted-unless you don't have one available. Fortunately, the tenants and residents of Hacienda-as well as those living and working in other nearby neighborhoods-have Hacienda Cleaners. And, if you have trouble finding the time to drop off and pick up your clothes, Hacienda's services can be of particular help.

Hacienda Cleaners was established about 18 years ago, with its current owner, David Hong, purchasing the business in June of 1997. Hong and his 15 employees have a much larger service area than many dry cleaners. "We're the biggest pick up and delivery cleaners in the East Bay," Hong says. "About 60% of our business is pick up and delivery and about 20% of our business is serving hotels." In fact, Hacienda Cleaners services the guests of 18 different hotels in the area, including Sunnyvale's Wyndham Garden Hotel, Pleasanton's Rose Hotel, and San Ramon's Sierra Suites. Hacienda Cleaners also does the dry cleaning for the UPS office in San Ramon.

Hong moved to the U.S. from South Korea in 1978 and, after working as a real estate agent and then the part owner/general manager of the The Day's Inn on Hegenberger in Oakland, found his niche in dry cleaning. In addition to his management skills, it turned out that he had quite a knack for keeping the machines working. Back when he was living in South Korea, he learned how to handle tools while working in his father's mill and apparently that skill translated well to dry cleaning machinery. "I fix the machines regularly and a mechanic comes in about once a year," Hong says. "I purchase the parts and fix them myself. Maybe that's how I survived. If I didn't have that skill, I probably would have been out of business a long time ago."

One of the more popular services that Hacienda Cleaners offers is the pick up and delivery of items that need to be dry cleaned. "People don't have time to press their own shirts," Hong says. "If they have to come twice to bring the garment to the store and pick it up at the store, that's another 30 to 40 minutes every time. We do pick up and delivery all the way to Blackhawk. We have customers in Danville, Diablo, Pleasanton, Livermore, and all around the area. They put the garments in our bag, put it on the porch, and one of my four drivers pick up the clothes. Three days later we deliver them."

Hacienda Cleaners has between 800 and 900 customers who take advantage of their pick up and delivery service, as pick up and delivery can be arranged at local businesses as well. Hong says that he will pick up and deliver dry cleaning from any business in Hacienda. Hacienda Cleaners also offers a regular discount of 10% to tenants and employees of Hacienda Business Park and will be offering a special 15% discount to those same people in January and February. Hacienda Cleaners even has plans to allow customers to schedule pick up and delivery via the Internet from their web site at www.haciendacleaners.com. It seems that good service still earns loyal customers.

Photo: David Hong, owner of Hacienda Cleaners, with his "Green Tech" dry cleaning machines, named for their low environmental impact.

Also in this issue...