'It knocked me down': Dry cleaners face devastation after COVID-19 stalled demand for work and formal attire

When the pandemic erupted, Theresa Sanchez’s dry-cleaning business in Austin, Texas, experienced a devastating drop in revenue.

"It knocked me down like a hot potato," she said.

With virtually no business coming from hotels – one of her largest sources of income before COVID-19 – and her regular corporate customers working from home, there was little relief. She laid off most of her employees.

Facing little hope of a return to office life as usual on the horizon, Sanchez recently decided to shut down her business, T’s Cleaners Twin Oaks, which was in a spot that had had a dry-cleaning business for six decades.