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Unemployed and looking for work? You can get your interview suit or dress cleaned for free at Alan Greenberg’s five stores across Bergen County, including those in Teaneck, Englewood and Fort Lee.
As long as people are looking for work, Greenberg, owner of four Jet Cleaners, as well as A Plus Cleaners in Woodcliff Lake, is offering his services free of charge.
Greenberg said he heard of the concept from family members and immediately decided to take action locally.
“My parents and my sister live in Utah and they had seen a similar situation. A cleaner in Utah was trying to do this and they brought it to my attention. I thought it was a great idea, so the next day I went out right away and had signs made and put them in all my stores,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
The offer has led to an outpouring of support, he said.
“We got a great response. People really seem to like it. It’s a very emotional response; a lot of people are in trouble and need help and it’s a good thing to do,” he said.
“A woman in one of the Teaneck stores almost came to tears. People see we’re trying to help, and they really feel it,” he said.
Greenberg has been in the dry cleaning business for 27 years, and he says that the impacts of the recession have been obvious.
“Definitely in the last three or four years business attire has dropped off a bit. I think people are more cautious about how often they clean, and maybe if they’re out of work, they’re not cleaning suits as often as they used to because they don’t have a need for it,” He said.
Greenberg said he hopes that by having freshly dry cleaned clothes, customers will make a better first impression on possible employers, leading to jobs.
The five locations are:
Jet Cleaners, 455 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
Jet Cleaners, 1545 Teaneck Road, Teaneck
Jet Cleaners, 515 Main Street, Fort Lee
Jet Cleaners, 4 West Palisades Ave, Englewood
A Plus Cleaners, 500 Chestnut Ridge Road, Woodcliffe Lake
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Editor's Note: This article was first published Oct. 16.
Lynn K
5:32 pm on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
What a wonderful, community-friendly idea. Well done!
Paulette Stern
7:15 pm on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
What a WONDERFUL thing to do!!!!!!
Lisa Buonomo
8:34 pm on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Awesome!! Thank you for thinking of us!!
Sergio Gomez
8:07 am on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Great example of pulling together, let this make us all think how can we help one another in times of need.
john
3:06 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
This is the stupidest idea. We cant have any more handouts!!!!!!!!
Paul Umrichin
7:54 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
john, you're a tool. How is this a handout? It's a business looking out for it's customers and increasing his business at the same time. Look at the bigger picture of this merchant taking a slight hit for a few cleanings. But that customer and everyone they tell and articles like this will drive more business to his store. Since you don't like handouts I assume that you're republican so hopefully seeing it in Capitalist terms like that you may understand better as this is exactly that.
alan greenberg
11:37 am on Saturday, October 20, 2012
Thanks for all the kind words. John it's not a hand out.It's a hand up. There is a difference.
Alan Greenberg
JamesTS
6:31 pm on Saturday, October 20, 2012
Mr Greenberg: thank you for this wonderful contribution to thecommunity. I will be taking my business to your establishments after reading this. We need to support business owners like yourself. Thank you.
Paul Umrichin
12:00 pm on Sunday, October 21, 2012
Mr. Greenberg... We need more businessmen like you. Thank you for your community support
Armando
12:07 pm on Sunday, October 21, 2012
Great job Mr. Greenberg. As for you, John, this is not even a government handout, it is a private charity giving back to a community. You can make the arguement that this is why private charities should replace government money, but nevertheless your arguement doesn't apply here and hence you just have no idea what you are talking about.
Jennifer Ellis
12:58 pm on Monday, October 22, 2012
Jennifer
This is absolutely fantastic !!! Mr. Greenberg , I celebrate you. We have a saying: " one one full basket." If everyone thinks & acts like you, every dry cleaning dollar could be spent elsewhere and though it may seem deminimus, it helps the economy.
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