Amaisse Continues Family Tradition with Commuter Cleaners

For Marwan Amaisse, the owner of the recently opened Commuter Cleaners at 39 East Central Avenue, the entrepreneurial spirit has been part of his life since he was a child. 

Amaisse came to the United States from Lebanon in 1983 when he was two years old.  

“My father is a professional tailor by trade and he opened his first dry cleaning store in Paterson, New Jersey," Amaisse said. "I hung around my father’s store from the time I was six or seven.”

After several years, Amaisse’s father sold the store in Paterson and moved to Waldwick, New Jersey where the business flourished.  In the
late 1990’s, he expanded to locations in Park Ridge, Ramsey and Riverdale.  By that time Amaisse was a junior at Paramus High School, the town in which he had spent most of his youth.  In 1998, he started manning the Park Ridge store from the hours of 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate his high school schedule.

“My father pushed us a lot”, said Amaisse. “I took to the business and I wanted to be successful.  I feel that Park Ridge has worked out well because I am the only person who has run that store.  Customer relations in our business are extremely important.  I have known most of my customers for 10-to-15 years and the only way to do that is to be an owner operator.”

In both Pearl River and Park Ridge, the stores are open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., the hours that were set when Amaisse was in high school. 

“With limited hours we can compete with our prices and services," Amaisse said. "Our goal is to be 35-50% less than anyone else.  Shortened hours mean less overhead and we pick locations where the rents are reasonable.

“We like to try out things and with the economy being the way it is we try to target customers who are looking to get better prices.  There is room for us to succeed.  The reason that we opened a store in Pearl River is because we were getting an influx of people coming to Park Ridge because the discount cleaner on Middletown Road had closed.”

Amaisse makes a point to outline the strategy that he uses to build
relationships in the communities that he serves. 

“Our locations are run by investor-partners," Amaisse said. "I don’t put any employees in my stores and investor-partners don’t run any of these locations until I think that they are ready. Customers don’t see different people every time they come to our stores. When they come in they see people that know them. Employees don’t treat customers the way owner-investors do. It all comes down to good customer service.”

He wanted to be certain to show his appreciation for the reception that he has gotten in Rockland  County. 

“The Pearl River community has been very understanding of what we are trying to do and a pleasure to work with," Amaisse said. "I am glad that we got involved in this town.  We have gotten a great reaction and we are happy to accommodate this community.”