Page 6 - Clothesline - November 2020

PAGE 6 / NATIONAL CLOTHESLINE / NOVEMBER, 2020

Reclaiming a name

ooking at an old photograph of his “I think within a couple of years they wait five years to guide him; longtime which gave us a couple of months of
family’s drycleaning business, Kell had like 40 different drop stores and the Kell Cleaners cleaner Mary Pena quit leeway, probably about three months of
LCleaners of Fort Worth, TX, Kevin problem they were having — they had once her no-compete contract came up leeway to persevere through more dif-
Kell noted that it was taken very early some good stores and some bad stores with Kell Cleaner and promptly joined ficult financial times,” he continued,
in the long history that dates back to — but they were trying to mass pro- Twin Kell. adding that his company was “blessed”
1932 when the business first opened. duce at one central plant and they “I was just amazed at how she could to not have to lay anybody off. “We’ve
“The prices we have on the picture started having a lot of quality and serv- remove stains safely,” Kevin recalled. had to cut some hours back, but most

are suits were 35 cents, dresses were 35 ice issues.” “The biggest thing I probably learned of them have been supplemented by

cents and hats were 50 cents,” he re- When Kevin and Kent started Twin from her was the fact that she always the extra wages that they’re getting
called. “Hats were a big thing. Every-
body had to have a hat. If you look at
some of the old sporting events, every-
body wore a hat to the game — like a
fedora. Even the ladies had their hats. Kent and
Things have certainly changed since
then.”
When Tom and Oleta Kell first
opened the business, the start-up costs

were also fairly low.
“I always remember my grand- Kevin
mother told me she started the business twinkellcleaners.com

with a five dollar gold piece right
then,” Kevin said. “I think we’re the
oldest and longest continuous running
family drycleaners in Fort Worth.” Kell
The original store was located in
Handley, TX, but the family expanded
Arlington in the 1950s and continued
to
growing. Pictured from left: Kent and Kevin Kell.
“I think one of the first big projects
they had was they bought a parking lot
om the bank,” Kevin noted. “That Kell, they made the same promise that went from step one to step number from the Texas Workforce Commis-
fr
gave them the ability to expand the op- both family generations before them two. She never jumped from one to sion.”
eration when they got the room for the learned: there is no substitute for qual- seven, or one to eight. So, I learned that
parking lot. Gradually, little by little, ity and service. patience is what it takes. Even though hese days, sporting events still
they started expanding the plant to in- Ironically, the business that the twin it may take you more time and cus- feature fans wearing hats (at least
clude both drycleaning and laundry Kells bought had been owned by a pair tomers may be pushing you to try to Tof the baseball variety), but no-

services.” of brothers. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the garment back, you have to learn body dresses up anymore. In fact, in the
Tom and Oleta’s son, Jack, who quite see eye to eye. there are no shortcuts in stain re- wake of Covid, there are hardly any
graduated from Texas Christian Uni- “They were having their own prob- moval.” fans in attendance.
versity in 1960, worked in the business lems with each other,” he added. “One Recently, Kevin watched his son,

from the ground up. was more of a hands-on type of opera- or the third generation Kell family Griffin, play a road game for the Texas

“He came in, in the 1960s, and he tor. The other one was more of the fi- in the drycleaning industry, pa- Christian University football team at
kind of dove right in because my nancial supporter in the background. Ftience has often been their biggest the University of Texas stadium, home

grandfather retired in the late 1960s. They were having some conflicts about strength. They didn’t rush to buy a of the #9 Longhorns at the time. It was
My grandmother was still active prob- how the business should be run, so we business before they were ready, and a unique experience.
ably until about 1980,” Kevin said. “So, walked into a really good situation.” they won’t rush to return clothes unless “It was pretty interesting. Of course,
she remained and my father and her they are ready to wear. they had reduced capacity. I think they
e at about 25%,” he recalled. “You can
ran four locations at that point.” he Kell twins have been careful to Today, more patience may be re- ar
That’s when the story takes a Texas- avoid the same pitfalls that have quired with volume numbers still lin- get in and out of the stadium a lot eas-
sized twist. Tbefallen other cleaners. At the gering somewhere near 60% for the ier with 25,000 than you can with

right time, they opened a second loca- business from its usual numbers in pre- 100,000.”
hen Jack was ready to retire, tion in the Colleyville area. Kent over- vious years. In a time with few perks, it was nice
Kent and Kevin were not sees that location while Kevin manages “We peaked out in about 2008, prob- to be able to move with a cluster of

Wready to take over. Both had things in Fort Worth. ably like a lot of other drycleaners TCU fans to a much better section.

recently graduated from Texas Chris- “I think the fact that me and my around the time,” Kevin said. “We were “We sat right smack dab on the 40-
tian University and the ultimate deci- brother worked really well together... I running almost to maximum capacity yard line, about 50 rows up — tremen-

sion was to keep the laundry side of the think that’s probably the largest com- where we wouldn’t compromise the dous seats that we would never have

business, which they would run. ponent I could attribute. We each had work. We did not want to compromise had the luxury of getting in a normal
Meanwhile, Kell Cleaners, which kind of different specialties,” Kevin the quality.” situation,” he said.
had built up a strong reputation and noted. “When we started the business, But, once the housing bubble burst, But then, nothing was normal at that

legacy for 55 years, was sold to some- we only had like six or seven employ- the overall production numbers began game. As it turned out, the visiting

one else. This worked out well for ees. So, we were working back then to reverse. TCU underdogs upset the top ten team
Kevin and Kent in one way because about a 60-hour week. He was more up “After a few years of moderate de- with a hard fought 33 to 31 win.
they felt they were no longer on the front with the customers and in the of- creases, then we began to pick up again Griffin Kell scored 15 of those points,

best side of town for the business. In fice. He was more into the figures and to where were were almost up to the completing three extra points and four
1989, they bought a store on the west analytics. I was in the back and I kind 2008 level last year,” he added. “Then, field goals (27 yards, 28 yards, 32 yards

side of Fort Worth where they reasoned of always had an interest of actually of course, Covid hit and put us in a dif- and 49 yards).
the business would flourish. working with clothes.” ferent situation.” “That was probably the best game in
“We called it Twin Kell Cleaners, While the fledgling business began his career,” Kevin added. “We were for-

and the reason we called it that was be- to find its footing and build a new rep- o far, the Kell twins have let cus- tunate to be able to go down there and

cause we had to differentiate ourselves utation from scratch, the original Kell tomers dictate how they will adapt witness that. It just so happened he put

between us and Kell Cleaners,” Kevin Cleaners continued to struggle. It even- Sduring the pandemic. it all together that one game. We’re very
noted. tually closed down a handful of years “With Covid, everybody got a little proud of him.”
By that time, the Kell Cleaners name back. The Kells were determined to bit sensitive when it comes to their bed- Such good days seem to be outnum-

had taken a bit of a hit. The couple who avoid the same fate. ding and their kitchen and dining room bered by the tough ones this year, but
bought the business learned why In an effort to try to attain the best tablecloths and things like that,” Kevin the Kell Twins have learned that pa-

adding new locations in the dryclean- quality possible, Kevin pursued a explained. “They want to make sure tience usually pays off. If not, they can
ing business is a cautious and precise cleaning education and he credits in- that stuff is clean. We’ve had to adapt a always fall back on other strengths.

balancing act. dustry legends Stan Caplan and Norm little bit, market a little more toward “When we start compromising qual-
“They were good people. I think Oehlke as being chief influences that that to kind of fill the void we have.” ity and service then it’s time for us to

they just got in a little over their head helped him becom a better spotter and “Fortunately, we did get help from get out of this business,” he noted. “It’s
because they went too fast,” Kevin said. cleaner. His best tutor, though, had to the PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] all about quality and service.”