Koreans and the dry cleaning business

[cantdrv55]

I live in a small town with three dry cleaning businesses within 5 miles of each other. Each is owned by a different Korean family. I thought not a big deal, just a coincidence. Last week I was in Reno for a few days and had to get my suit jacket cleaned. Wouldn't you know it, the shop was also owned by a Korean family.

Have they discovered the secret sauce to small business success and financial independence? The young couple who own the cleaners I use most often drive a Mercedes G wagon. I wonder what the margin is in dry cleaning.

[rusnak]

It's an ancient Korean secret

[scottmandue]

Maybe they couldn't get a license for a sushi bar?

[Rick Lee]

I dated a Korean girl whose mom had a dry cleaners next to my house. That was in NoVA and, IIRC, every dry cleaners I ever went to in the DC area was owned by Koreans. Ditto for Dunkin Donuts owned by Indians and gas stations by Pakistanis.

[Hugh R]

Same thing here, now that I think about it.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

I wonder what the margin is in dry cleaning.

They live there. They do nothing else.

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by rusnak

It's an ancient Korean secret

Not to PARF it up, but aren't they really Chinese? That's what I recently heard about Koreans.

[rusnak]

^ I really don't know. I guess you can argue that all Asians are descended from ethnic Chinese, although I'm sure they'd object. I'm a Japanese smart-ass and I call my own family and friends gooks, Buddha heads, and katonks. When I'm really mad I'll call them a dumb honkey, haha! I'm racist.

[epbrown]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

Have they discovered the secret sauce to small business success and financial independence? The young couple who own the cleaners I use most often drive a Mercedes G wagon. I wonder what the margin is in dry cleaning.

A lot of dry cleaners don't actually dry clean. They give your items to a place that does them and brings them back. The storefront I used in Chicago was just a counter with a pc, change drawer, some garment racks, and a tv for the 20-something girl there to watch soap operas on. Guys in a van would come by every day with the clothes. I always thought the margins must have been pretty good, though she did twelve hour days (6 to 6), six days a week.

[stevej37]

Around here..almost all the gas stations/convenience stores are owned and run by middle eastern families. They do a great job. Doesn't matter what time of the day that you go...same people are there. They must work 18 hrs a day!

[MRM]

It's a function of being a business that has relatively few barriers for a new immigrant to get into and offers more opportunities than working for someone else, especially without having an American education. It used to be that Jews were famous for owning dry cleaning stores because they faced so much discrimination in the workplace that dry cleaning stores were a good opportunity to own a business rather than face discrimination as an employee. I suspect it's the same for Koreans. Koreans have a culture of business ownership and close family connections, so owning small businesses in this country comes naturally. I think that's why we see so many retail stores and restaurants run by immigrants. There's more opportunity for them to own a business than to work for wages in a difficult environment.

I think almost all dry cleaners now are just drop off locations and the cleaning is done in a central plant outside of town where the chemicals are easier to contain and the environmental restrictions might be looser.

[craigster59]

Syrian Christians are big in the liquor store biz around here. I used to rent to some up in Frazier Park (they own every store in town). They work constantly, and after so many years it's your turn to get a store (they pool their money).

Then some new blood comes over to work at your store for living expenses and the cycle repeats.

[Arizona_928]

koreans went full dependa and used the business to bring the rest of their family to the states?

On a side note i love korean food. Bulgogi, not to be confused with gaegogi. Lol

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by MRM

I think almost all dry cleaners now are just drop off locations and the cleaning is done in a central plant outside of town where the chemicals are easier to contain and the environmental restrictions might be looser.

That part is correct. We are looking at some dry cleaner tenants, and that is what they tell me.

[Joe Bob]

They buy themselves a job. No one else will hire them, so it's a family bidness. Remember when all the small liquor stores were owned by immigrant Jews? Then fair trade was ruled unconstitutional and then the new wave of Immigrants took over albeit with a smaller profit margin....no more discounts from wholesalers allowing them to compete with the big chains.

Small package stores retail pricing went up and the only customers they got where in a hurry that didn't want to wait for the long lines at the chains with Mommy and four kids and 3 full carts....

[look 171]

That used to be all Chinese business after the Jews. Then the Chinese got into the liquor / corner grocery business. After that, its was the Korean's turn as they were the newer immigrants. The latest transition on the liquor store business is now the middle easterner turn. My friend's parents ran a very successful dry cleaner in West LA. All the kids went on to college and wanted nothing to do with that but realized that the business made more money then they ever could working for a big corp or regular jobs. Oh, I forgot, the Indians had their hands in the liquor store business after the Koreans. What can new immigrants do to make a descent living working for a firm with a huge language barrier? This is what i have noticed in LA since the mid 70s as a little boy.

[Joe Bob]

When I sold wholesale liquor the stores reeked of curry. Still makes me gag 35 years later....

[URY914]

Vietnamese in the nail salon biz.
Italians in the mob.
Mexicans doing drywall.

[jcommin]

Most of the small sushi restaurants in Chicago are owned by Koreans. I only know of one restaurant that is owned by Japanese.

[john70t]

https://qz.com/487069/the-affluent-patel-clan-owns-a-quarter-of-us-motels-in-india-they-want-to-be-called-backward/
In his 2012 book Life Behind The Lobby, Pawan Dhingra reckons that one out of two motels in the US is now owned by Indian Americans. Of this, 70% are owned by Gujaratis—and among them, three-fourths share the last name Patel. There are some 22,000 hotels and motels owned by Indians across the US, together valued at $128 billion.