Why I work for AmeriPride Peter Passi, Duluth News Tribune Gary Tyman, owner of Wood City Laundry in Cloquet, carries a load of fresh carpets to put in place of soiled ones he picked up for cleaning during a run in downtown Duluth on Tuesday morning. Tyman’s laundry business recently burned down. As he waits for an insurance settlement, AmeriPride, a national chain with operations in Duluth, has provided Tyman with inventory, trucks and services. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews) In the wake of a fire on Feb. 21, Cloquet’s Wood City Laundry probably would be all washed up were it not for the help from an unlikely benefactor. Gary Tyman, proprietor of Wood City Laundry, referred to AmeriPride Linen & Apparel Service, a national commercial laundry chain with operations in Duluth, as “one of our fiercest competitors,” and yet this same business has come to the rescue in his hour of need. A fire in the midst of a snowstorm that dropped more than a foot of snow on Cloquet burned Tyman’s business to the ground. “Twenty-five years’ worth of work was reduced to a burning pile of rubble,” Tyman said. The fire destroyed his building, and claimed all his commercial laundering equipment, including much of his inventory of rugs, mops, linens, uniforms and other items. Desperate to keep their business afloat despite the devastating setback, Gary Tyman and his wife, Cindy, spent the first days after the fire washing, drying and folding items at a local coin-operated Laundromat then driving them to customers. “When something of that magnitude happens, it’s really a physical shock. We were just trying to cope,” Cindy Tyman said. “We were doing whatever we could just to sustain our business,” Gary Tyman said. In the midst of this madness, Tyman recalled a meeting several months before with Dave Hardy, general manager of AmeriPride’s operations in Duluth, Hibbing and Bemidji. AmeriPride had expressed an interest in buying out Tyman’s business. When he declined the offer to discuss a possible sale, the visit ended amiably with Hardy’s admonition to let him know if he could ever be of service. “On Friday afternoon, I gave Dave a call. I told him, we have no equipment, no building and no inventory,” Tyman said. Hardy didn’t miss a beat. He told Tyman he’d do anything he could to help and asked him to stop by AmeriPride’s Duluth service center Monday morning. “I remember he told me: We cannot let your business close,” Tyman said. Hardy said his heart went out to Tyman. “It’s a very unfortunate situation. He spent his whole life building that business.” MARKETPLACE OFFERS
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:34:04 +0000
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