Economy Cleaners: A family that washes together stays together
Words by Justin Hunter | Photos by Al Blanton
For 52 years, Economy Cleaners has anchored the corner of Alabama Avenue and 19th Street East in downtown Jasper. It is a dry cleaners, laundromat, and washeteria all underneath one roof. The business has been owned and operated by the Rowe Family since 1975.
The laundering and dry cleaning of clothes are knit into the metaphorical fabric of Marc Rowe’s DNA. He is the current owner and face of the family business. He’s the third generation of Rowes to run Economy Cleaners.
Marc Rowe’s grandmother, Alene Rowe, acquired the business in 1975 after working as an employee for 26 years. Aubrey Underwood founded the business in 1948, and out of respect for the late owner, Mrs. Rowe did not change the name. She was a business pioneer and forged a niche that has sustained her family for years. Her legacy is four generations long and counting.
“I was nine years old the first time I worked on a washing machine,” says Marc Rowe, seated in the back office of the business’s second location in Winfield, Alabama. “I co-oped in high school in school and spent three days a week working at the cleaners. I knew I wanted to work here after I graduated. I’ve been on the payroll since I was 16 years old, and I’m 47 now.”
The Winfield store opened its doors in February 2020, right before COVID-19 locked down the nation. The second store opened to serve the Winfield area, where, after the local laundromat closed, customers were driving close to an hour to do their laundry at Economy’s Jasper location.
The storefront serves as a drop-off point for dry cleaning that Rowe takes back to Jasper, where it is laundered.
Marc may open a full-service laundromat with washeteria if the business takes off in Winfield.
“We do shirt laundry, starch, press, dry cleaning, bedspreads, drapes and almost anything else you can think of, but leather. Leather takes a whole other set up,” says Rowe.
The Rowe Family understands fabrics and the chemical treatments needed to get stains out of almost any garment. An understanding formed, not by YouTube videos, but decades of hands-on experience. This close-knit family handles hundreds of pounds of clothing a day.
Economy Cleaners and the Rowe Family have served Jasper, Walker County, and surrounding counties with fantastic customer service, integrity, and excellence for decades. The business is a well-oiled machine because the entire family pitches in to make the business work.
“I love being able to see my family every single day,” Rowe says proudly of his family’s work. “I love getting to see my wife, twin daughters, and my dad at work. The laundry business is hard work, but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.” 78