Patel, a native of India, stands in front of her business, Perris Valley Cleaners, which her family has operated
since 1988.
The commute was killing Salma Patel.
The woman, a native of India who was living in the Perris Valley, drove to Orange County every day to work in the medical device industry. But the lengthy commute took its toll.
The solution: start a business close to home. So Patel and her husband opened Perris Valley Cleaners in 1988 across the street from Perris High School.
It’s the epitome of a family-run shop. Her three children, sons Shaaf and Shafique, and daughter, Shama, all work steaming, pressing and cleaning garments.
“I like it in Perris,” Patel said. “I like the area.
Perris Redevelopment Project Coordinator Veronica Arana presents Salma Patel with a goodie bag as part of the City’s “Shop Local” initiative.
Every time I go to Los Angeles, I don’t feel as safe as when I get back to Perris. We’ve got a good spot for our business and we like it here. We’ve got a lot of return customers who have come back here for more than 20 years.
Patel said her business has benefitted significantly from Perris’ “Shop Local” program, which kicked off late last year. Many customers already have taken advantage of the “Shop Local” discount cards and others walk into her cleaners weekly seeking more information about the program.
“We’re very pleased with the results so far,” she said. “We are grateful to have built a nice business with the help of the City of Perris and we want to do everything we can to promote business in the City.”
To mark Perris Valley Cleaners as the City’s Business of the Week, City Redevelopment Project Coordinator Veronica Arana presented Salma Patel with a Perris notebook calculator, a flash drive containing the retail and commercial opportunity book, a Perris model car and a measuring tape.
The Shop Local initiative already has garnered support from more than 60 Perris, including automotive shops, insurance agencies, beauty parlors and restaurants. Perris residents and visitors can obtain the shop local card from the City’s website, www.cityofperris.org, take it to the participating merchants and start saving. The City also has purchased hundreds of 30-second advertisements on a suite of channels, including Arts & Entertainment, Discovery, the Food Channel, CNN, Fox News and ESPN2. Media coverage about the program has included a story in the Press-Enterprise and a segment on KCAL-Channel 9.