That is why owners Tim and Annette McClintock decided to give their store at 816 First Ave. N. a makeover recently.

Since taking over the business in 1998, the couple has continued to expand and grow. Their children have all had a hand in things over the years, with locations in Webster City, Algona, Mason City, and Fairmount, Minnesota, to go along with the Fort Dodge store at the present time.

They also have satellite stores in a number of area communities including Manson, Rockwell City and Clarion.

“With the remodel project, the city approached us about the facade and we talked with them about repainting and such,” Tim McClintock said. “Carissa Harvey (Fort Dodge strategic planner) said we should take advantage of this and do it, so we decided it wasn’t a bad idea.”

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Here is a look at the inside of Premier Cleaners as you walk into the office after a remodel of the interior.

Much of the work was done by Tim McClintock and son Travis, who continues to help with the day-to-day business.

“We had a number of people really step in and give us a hand,” Annette McClintock said. “Dennis and Leo Stucky helped a lot, our son-in-law, Shawn (Heaning), did a lot.

“Honestly, it was a fun project, though, I don’t think Tim had a lot of fun with the tuckpointing.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t fun,” he laughed. “We’re still waiting on a few things to finish up, but we’re happy with how it all came out.”

The two said they have noticed a nice improvement around the downtown area, and have had many customers compliment them on the updates provided already.

“It was time to freshen things up,” Tim McClintock said. “We wanted to do our part to try and fit in downtown a little better. The downtown is looking really nice and a lot of people have done a lot of work to make that happen.”

Premier has also upgraded in terms of the equipment used, adding a shirt machine that can do two shirts at the same time, the use of dry cleaning chemicals without any harmful solvents and by going completely green. They have also purchased a new boiler to “run the whole show.”

“We just want to be as efficient as we can be to be as cost-effective as we can be,” Annette McClintock said. “We’ve had one price increase over the last eight years. Our goal is to make this as affordable as possible.”

Tim McClintock, who continues to handle long-distance driving on a daily basis, has nearly 500,000 miles on his two vans.

“We bought them brand new in 2014 with just a couple miles on them,” he said. “They are still going strong.”

The couple has kept the doors open through several hurdles over the years, including following the attacks on the U.S. in 2001 and COVID-19.

“We’ve just tried our best to handle it all,” Annette McClintock said. “After 9/11, nobody was flying and several businesses shut down. It took a while to get through that one and then COVID hits and that was bad, too. People stayed home, nobody was going to weddings or events.

“That hit everybody, but it’s getting better. And we’re trying new ways to handle things. We want to offer more in terms of our pick-up service, which has grown since COVID.”

Premier offers commercial and residential laundering services, specializing in dry cleaning, laundry, wedding dresses, leathers, alterations, zippers, law enforcement patches and military patches, heavy starch jeans, bar towels and wet press.