By William Jacko
Special to The Laker/Lutz News
When Vincent Hernandez saw a need for an affordable dry cleaner in Zephyrhills, he and his wife, Emina, decided to open $1.99 Cleaners on U.S. 301, just south of downtown.
And, with his family’s long history in the dry cleaning business, Hernandez had an immense knowledge base and business know-how to draw from.
“My family has been in the dry cleaning business for 30 years out of Hillsborough County. I am following in the steps of my father to bring his great services and pricing to the Zephyrhills community,” said Hernandez.
At $1.99 Cleaners, the emphasis is clearly on price, but without sacrificing quality cleaning.
“By owning our own equipment, property and buildings, we are able to provide almost wholesale prices, and then pass these savings onto our consumers,” Hernandez said.
The young business owner is so confident in the ability of $1.99 Cleaners to deliver the lowest prices in town, that he has an impressive coupon-matching policy.
“If you have competitor coupons and want to try us, we will honor those coupons from other dry cleaning and laundry services, and do exactly what they say. Plus, we’ll likely save you even more money, because our prices are already lower than a standard dry cleaning bill by about 20% to 25%,” said Hernandez.
The bulk of $1.99 Cleaners’ business is laundering and dry cleaning clothes, but it also cleans wedding dresses, comforters, household items, curtains and drapes. The business also does basic alterations — hem pants, cut sleeves, take in waists, expand waists (when possible), sew buttons and repair rips in clothes.
“The laundered process is water-based,” Hernandez said. “Clothes are actually pressed wet on a hot plate, which is geared toward the business shirt, because it gives the shirt a good firm and fresh feel.”
Dry cleaning uses a very different process.
“Even though the process is called dry cleaning, clothes are still saturated with a petroleum base that doesn’t mix with water, which preserves the life of the fabric and gets clothes really fresh and clean,” said Hernandez. “This is an environmentally friendly process, and we carefully follow guidelines sanctioned by the EPA.”
Hernandez is grateful for the assistance his business has received from the City of Zephyrhills.
“We want to thank the city for guiding us, helping us to revitalize this building, and allowing us to provide affordable cleaning services for the community,” said Hernandez.
813-779-7977 • 4932 Gall Blvd. Zephyrhills, FL 33542
Published 11/6/19
