New management is bringing some major improvements to one of Chester County’s original family businesses. Owned and operated by the Ciccarone family for decades, Parkway Cleaners was sold to business partners Ceri Danheux and Dru Rai in October last year, writes Brian McCullough for Daily Local News.

Since taking over, the new owners have invested over $1 million into the business’ operations center located on North Adams and Gay streets, including upgrading and improving the equipment, making renovations to the property and general workforce adjustments.

“We came from the corporate world,” said Danheux to Daily Local News. “We worked at multi-million to billion dollar companies and then this opportunity came along and gave me a chance to stay local. I had to travel a lot and I wanted to spend more time at home with my kids.”

Danheux and Rai decided to invest in Parkway because of its history as a local family business that had already built good reputation.

“And it had the potential to grow,” Danheux added. “It needed an investment and a fresh restart.”

One of the main draws of the new business for Danheux is the fact that it is very hands-on.

“It’s nice to work with the people doing the work – you get to see the results right away. You don’t get that in the corporate world,” she pointed out.

In an effort to revamp the business and make it accessible to more customers, Rai and Danheux have purchased new state of the art equipment, made plans for the renovation of eight Parkway stores, started a same day service at several locations, added a 24-hour drop box service in the Brandywine store, and renovated the customer service office among many other additions both small and large.

The new owners have also retained Jon Ciccarone as the Parkway’s plant floor manager, taking advantage of his knowledge and experience. In addition, they plan to promote some of the company’s original 60 employees to help steer the company’s growth.

“We plan to grow organically and inorganically,” said Danheux. “We’re not happy with the status quo. We think this business has a growth potential and we look forward to taking it to another level.”