“Every customer is a name, not a number,” says President Barbara Cariño, who has spent 40 years at the 100-year-old dry cleaning firm. “I began learning the business with my father when I was a teenager. I went to college for one semester, but I wasn’t a student-type, so I started work here right after high school — and I still have a smile on my face when I come to work each morning.”
Offering quality service with a friendly attitude has earned Garcia’s a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Minority and Small Business Alliance of Southern Arizona. The plaque, displayed on the counter next to a nearly century-old cash register, reads: “Given to a minority business owner that has demonstrated true entrepreneurial spirit that has lasted through the test of time.”
  
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Mexico City-born Margarito Garcia traveled to Tucson frequently from his tailoring shop in Hermosillo, Sonora, more than a century ago. He settled here following the Mexican Revolution, opening Tucson Tailors in 1909 on West Congress Street.
With only a few dollars backing him, Garcia purchased sewing equipment, an iron and a hot plate, and got to work. In 1911, he renamed the business Garden City and moved it to South Meyer Ave.
Life during the Great Depression saw his son Roberto (Barbara’s father) stopping after school each day to buy white gas to light the steam boiler for pressing before family members got busy to play their part to keep the doors open.
A move in 1932 resulted in another name change to Garcia and Sons.
When Margarito Garcia died in 1952, brothers Roberto and Henry moved the business to larger facilities on South Main Avenue. That’s where they added the first drive-through facility in Tucson. But the location wouldn’t last long as it was forced to relocate in the 1960s as part of Tucson’s downtown urban renewal.
Roberto Garcia re-opened the business at its current location, 205 E. 22nd St., 40 years ago.
“We’re ranked somewhere in the middle of the dry cleaning industry in Tucson,” says son Eddie Escalante, now manager of Garcia’s and heir apparent after 20 years on the job. “I don’t know our exact ranking, because the bigger operations have a dozen different drop stations and do a larger volume — but we remain highly competitive in terms of quality.”
Quoting a slogan from another of Tucson’s 10 oldest businesses — El Charro Café — Escalante says their histories are similar: “We’re not the best because we’re the oldest. We’re the oldest because we’re the best.”
Generations of Garcia’s family members have witnessed a lot of changes in the care of clothing.
“In the early 1900s, it was all wool and cotton with silk reserved for the upper class,” says Escalante. “Then came the introduction of synthetics, polyesters and rayons (‘the poor man’s silk’). Nowadays we have shirts that are non-wrinkle, non-spills, resin-covered cotton products. Clothing is advancing to even more wrinkle-free, but a lot of our long-time regular customers still prefer natural blends of cotton and linen. Even with our tendency toward casual attire, looks continue to be important and our bread-and-butter remains suits, jackets, coats, and dresses. Although Tucson is a casual-wear town, sportcoats, silk shirts, and summertime guayaberas still need to be pressed.”
Mother and son both acknowledge families of customers that go back decades, multi-generational husbands and wives and children who start new families that continue the traditional of sprucing up their wardrobes at Garcia’s.
“Our customers are pretty much the same year after year,” says Escalante, who does see some change and growth in two sectors. “We get some of the younger generation whose pants hang low, but they still drop in to have droopy drawers creased. And we do a lot of work with the rodeo circuit, heavy starch for padding and long-lasting creases that bring points for appearance.”
Previous Tucson urban renewal projects negatively impacted the Garcia’s business, but the family hopes the current Rio Nuevo efforts may help by bringing more visitors and residents who will discover Garcia’s.
That’s the plus side.
“What might hurt us is how the widening of 22nd Street takes place,” says Cariño. “We don’t know yet how much parking may disappear from our side of the street.”
Lots of room or less of it, Garcia’s Cleaners & Shirt Laundry still advertises they are “Your clothes’ best amigo.”
And, despite the economy, president Cariño is keeping a positive outlook.
“We’ve been through hard times before,” she says. “We’re proud to carry on this lasting heritage as a successful family-owned Tucson business.”
Garcia’s Cleaners
& Shirt Laundry
205 E. 22nd St.
(520) 622-8174
Lee Allen is a Tucson-based freelance writer
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