But the Hudson St. business is actually older than that
My Valet Cleaners celebrated its 15th anniversary on Sept. 18. But actually the business is older than that.
“How did you get started?” we asked Rafael Ortiz when we arrived at his celebration. He referred to a day when he was a customer rather than a proprietor.
Some scattered power outages kept him from using his credit card to pay for his dry cleaning.
So Mr. Ortiz rushed to a community where the ATMs were working. When he returned, ready to pay his bill in cash, the door was locked. The dry cleaner was closed.
Mr. Ortiz works (as a building manager) in New York City, where dry cleaners often pick up and deliver. “Why couldn’t it work in Cornwall-on-Hudson?” he wondered. So he conferred with a firm in the city and recruited his sons as delivery men.
The only thing he needed was customers. But he knew where to find them. He talked to the people at the train station, the passengers he commuted with every day. They were attracted by the convenience of the service and the opportunity to do business with a friend. It was not a difficult sale.
But after a while, these customers were curious.
“Rafael,” they would ask, “where’s your store?”
It was a difficult question, because there was no store. Mr. Ortiz was operating the business out of his garage. But maybe it was time to have a separate location. And so in the fall of 2006 My Valet opened its doors on Hudson Street in Cornwall-on-Hudson.
That’s the date Mr. Ortiz was celebrating on Sept. 18.
But actually the business was around for a while before it became a store.
Today, My Valet features a Green Earth cleaning process that is friendly to the environment as well as the garment and the person who wears it. The business offers a tailoring service as well as a cobbler, who will shine shoes and repair them. And, of course, My Valet is prepared to pick up clothes and deliver them.
On Sept. 18, Father Bill Damroth was unable to visit the store, but he offered a prayer of thanks over the phone. Mayor Jim Gagliano read a proclamation congratulating the owner and citing the business’s importance to the community. The mayor then proudly added that he was a long-time customer.