Celebrating 50 Years

If you have ever needed a piece of clothing altered, whether it be as common as a pair of pants or as special as your wedding dress, Manchester Dry Cleaners is available, located right in the heart of Manchester. The business is owned and operated by Deno Gray.

The services offered at the establishment are expansive, with Deno saying, “We do all types of dry cleaning and we do all types of alterations.”

Deno emphasizes the importance of alterations, stating that it is a “big part of our business right now.” 

The business is referred to customers by The Loft of London for wedding dresses and the Copper Penny for prom dresses. In addition to these professional referrals, Deno receives a lot of business from customers who hear about his services through word of mouth and social media.

“I've got a girl last week came in and she's from Jellico, Tennessee, and I said, ‘Where did you come up with this? How did you find out about this?’ She said, ‘I put it on Facebook. Everybody recommended it,’” said Deno.

From Ohio to Tennessee, people come from far and wide to receive Deno’s clothing services.

“A girl yesterday was in and picked up a wedding dress from Williamsburg. We’ve got them from Jellico. We’ve got them from Whitesburg. We’ve got them from Nicholasville, and I did have a friend that brought their dress from Ohio for his daughter's wedding,” said Deno.

Deno describes his busiest season as lasting from March to November, with all of the festivities of prom and wedding season.

“The busiest season starts in usually the first of March. We start with prom. We go through prom, and then we also have weddings in there, and then we go into wedding season, usually June and July, but the fall, the last few years, fall has been busier with wedding seasons,” said Deno.

Within a wedding, Deno has worked on many articles of clothing over the years, and his services even extend to the decorations of the party.

“So we do a lot of wedding seasons, and that's from doing the wedding dress, doing the mother's dress, to doing the tuxedos, to doing the tablecloths. So whatever needs to be done for a wedding, we can do it,” said Deno.

Although his business hours are Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., he will help the occasional customer outside of his scheduled time.

“Sometimes we meet people after work or we will come in on Saturday morning for just a specific wedding party to measure stuff,” Deno said.

He has worked at the establishment since his junior year of high school in August 1975. When he started with the dry cleaning business over 50 years ago, he was just a kid idling by.

“I was loafing here one day for something, and the owner back then asked me, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I'm loafing.’ He asked me would I want a job, and I started with the Clay County High School band uniforms,” said Deno.

Grover and Elmer Spurlock owned the establishment for almost 30 years when Deno and his wife, Debra Gray, bought the business on June 29, 2006.

Now looking back on 20 years of ownership and 50 years of employment, Deno shares his favorite part of his work.

“My favorite part is doing the alterations and meeting people, getting to talk to people,” said Deno.

By talking with people, he has the opportunity to pray over people right in the store and even gives out prayer cloths to interested customers. He has also had the opportunity to watch people grow up within the community during his years of work.

“I altered a girl’s prom dress a while back, and she came back to get her wedding dress and bridal party dresses fixed by me as well,” said Deno.

However, the growth is not one-sided. As he serves the community, people also get to watch him evolve over time.

“I tell everybody, I say, I used to be the little black-headed boy at work here. Now I'm the old gray-headed man,” Deno said.