Business of the Week: Chappaqua Cleaners & Tailors, Chappaqua
Lots of businesses come and go but in downtown Chappaqua there’s a family-owned store that has been a fixture in the heart of the hamlet for decades.
Chappaqua Cleaners & Tailors is owned and operated by the Magnotta family, the same as it was in 1934 when Gaetano Magnotta, a custom tailor and immigrant from Naples, who had arrived in New York 15 years earlier, opened his high-end men’s clothing shop at the corner of King Street and North Greeley Avenue.
Today, his son, John, at 78 years old, still comes in most days to help out four of his six children who now run the day-to-day operations. The one key difference, said Toni Magnotta, John’s oldest child, is that her father phased out the high-end men’s clothing shop by the 1980s as competition stiffened from larger retailers and morphed the business into a dry cleaner.
But they still tailor and there’s still the cowbell on the front door that rings every time a customer walks in, the three-way mirror on the wall and other keepsakes from when Gaetano opened the store 84 years ago. Then there is the outside sign that reads George’s Men’s Shop, which was put up by her grandfather as a memorial to her uncle who died as a young man.
“The nice thing I think about our business is once people come here they get to know our family, (they) start feeling like one of the family members,” Toni Magnotta said. “When they come in we either know people by their first name or we all know them by their last name. They’re always greeted by their name.”
While the personal side of the business is a nice touch, it’s the service that Chappaqua Cleaners & Tailors provides that brings their customers returning year after year.
Magnotta, joined by siblings Maria, John and Joe, said in addition to accepting all kinds of garments for dry cleaning and laundry service, they also clean comforters, tablecloths and napkins, bedspreads and virtually any type of household linen.
All the dry cleaning is done on the premises with the exception of the majority of the dress shirts since they have limited washer space, she said. Customers can choose to have their shirts on a hanger or folded.
No matter how long a store operates, times change and a business must evolve. Chappaqua Cleaners & Tailors is no different. Earlier this year, the store added pickup and delivery service for customers not only in Chappaqua but in the rest of New Castle, Pleasantville, Armonk, Mount Kisco, Thornwood and Bedford, Magnotta said. The only extra charge is 25 cents more for each shirt.
In April, the store added a chute where people can drop their items off 24/7. Magnotta said she thought it would help people who work long hours in the city and can’t always get to the store when it’s open. The chute is accessed by a personal code each customer is given when they sign up to use it.
Both services help with convenience and flexibility and also make it easier for customers who currently find the downtown construction problematic, Magnotta said.
“A lot of people work past 5:30 (p.m.) now,” she said. “Years ago it was 5:30 and you went home. That’s not how it is (today).”
All garments are ready for pick up in two days. Next-day service is also available upon request.
The store also provides box storage of clothes that are out of season for customers short on storage space at home.
Chappaqua Cleaners & Tailors is located at 53 King St. It is open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, including on the new services, call 914-238-3414 or visit www.chappaquacleaners.com.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/