Three Cheers for Twenty Years!
Written by Jackie Clark on 1 May 2015
Today, 1st May 2015, Mike and I celebrate our 20th anniversary as owners of A&G Chem-Dry.
Here’s the story of our unlikely route into the cleaning industry ….
“You’re going to do WHAT??!!”
That was the reaction from most of our friends and family
back in 1995, when we told them of our new venture.
Looking back, perhaps we can understand
their sceptical attitude.
After all, neither of our career paths had related
at all to the cleaning industry ….
Up to that point, Mike had always worked in the packaging trade, working his way up from Office Junior to Managing Director. In my case, after starting out in the Home Office and following a few stints of working abroad, for the past few years I’d been working in the charity sector, latterly as Area Retail Manager, responsible for ten shops in the East Midlands area.
It was this role that, in a roundabout way, opened our eyes to the unique Chem-Dry carpet cleaning system …..
Keeping the shop carpets clean and fresh was a constant challenge and having them “professionally cleaned” a real headache and something I dreaded. A grump of a chap would turn up in a dirty, battered estate car, unload a glorified “Henry” machine and proceed to soak the carpets with gallons of soapy solution!! The carpets seemed to take days to dry properly, generated copious amounts of condensation and very soon, they started to smell – really bad!! The shop volunteers weren’t happy and neither was I – there had to be a better way!!
It turned out there was and, as someone once said, “we liked it so much, we bought the company!!” The difference was incredible. For a start, there was no need to empty the shop floor area entirely, as due to the low moisture method, the fittings could be moved around as the carpet was cleaned. There was NO condensation generated!! Oh joy! But best of all …. we realised that the carpet was actually blue … with a pattern and not grey, as we had thought, at all! The rest, as they say, is history.
Over the past twenty years, people have often commented upon our enthusiasm and passion for what we do and I honestly think that stems back from that “WOW” moment, when we first witnessed the fantastic results achieved by the Chem-Dry cleaning system. This, combined with the fabulous, hardworking team of experts that we’ve built and are privileged to work with, ensures the very best experience for our customers.
We’ve been so fortunate over the past twenty years.
Of course, there have been lows – that’s life – but they are far outweighed by the memories of the really great times.
The lovely things our customers have said, the milestones we’ve celebrated,
the people we’ve met, the lessons we’ve learnt and the awards we’ve won.
So much has changed too.
We didn’t even have a computer when we first started out and for years,
we advertised by putting a black and white advert and the odd article in the local paper.
Now, social media is the the big thing!
We can’t possibly end this reflection
without thanking you, our wonderful customers.
It’s absolutely true, of course, to say
we simply could not have done it without you!
So “Thank You”
Here’s to the next twenty years!
Call our team today on 0115 9894443
or email [email protected]
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