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10 | July 12, 2018 | The wilmette beacon NEWS wilmettebeacon.com Family keeps things buzzing at Wilmette Tailors & Cleaners Longtime business opened in 1931 Hilary Anderson Freelance Reporter They possess the magic to make teddy bears, rag dolls, dinosaurs and unicorns clean again. Kurt and Rita Raggi, the third-generation owners of Wilmette Tailors & Cleaners, 819 Ridge Road, are truly full-service. “My step-grandfather, Larry Schaefer, started this business in 1931,” Kurt Raggi said. “He built this store in the 1940s.” Brown paper garment bags that covered clothes back then attested to the store’s origin with the printing, “Larry’s Wilmette Tailors and Cleaners.” One of the original garment bags is framed and hangs in the front of the store. “Larry Shaefer’s name is no longer on the sign,” Rita Raggi said. “He is 95 years old now and moved out of the area. The only difference between then and now is the phone number. The original four-digit phone number “2433” remains the same but acquired an Alpine or “251” Wilmette prefix probably in the 1940s.” The dedication of the owners remains even though the last names are different. “Larry Schaefer had a son, Pete,” Kurt Raggi said. “He had six children with his first wife but none of them wanted to work in this [cleaners] store. My mother married Pete Schaefer in 1976 so when he decided to retire, we purchased it.” The Raggis work together. They are there every day. “If you have a question or concern, one of us owners is always here,” Rita Raggi said. “But we have good help. It is like a family here.” Louis Anta, the store’s presser who the Raggis say can fix anything mechanical, has been part of Wilmette Tailors and Cleaners for 16 years. Olga Maldanado, their tailor and seamstress extraordinaire, recently marked her 11th year with the store. She graduated from an Ecuador school that taught sewing and tailoring. “Olga can sew or repair just about kind of garment customers bring in,” Rita Raggi said. “She can even alter wedding gowns and bridesmaid and prom dresses.” All of the garment cleaning is done on site. The Raggis still offer storage of seasonal items in their vault. “We really do have a vault like the banks,” Kurt Raggi said. “Larry Schaefer had it made when this building was constructed in the 1940s.” “Several years ago when Wilmette experienced a severe rain storm [a derecho] when trees were blown down and pieces of roofs came off,” we went into the vault to protect ourselves,” Rita Raggi said. “A woman walking along the sidewalk asked if she could come in for protection from the storm. The two of us went down into the vault.” One thing that has changed is the computerization that transformed the dry cleaning business. It changed the way business is done. There now are environmentallysound, computerized machines that both clean and dry garments. “One machine now has separate programs for different fabrics,” Kurt Raggi said. Simple computerized tags are now put on garments with a customer’s information. They replaced the white slips of paper on which customers’ names were hand-written. “There also is more wet cleaning of garments than before,” Rita Raggi said. “Dry cleaning is not always the best for many of today’s fabrics. We use environmentally-friendly solvents for dry cleaning or soaps with different Ph balances in them to wet clean garments. Some are ones that can be recycled in the machine and reused again.” The couple says some of the hardest stains to remove from garments are mustard, coffee and red wine. “If you get a stain especially on a fine fabric, do not try to put water on it and clean it yourself,” Rita Raggi said. “Bring it to us as soon as you can. Water stains can become permanent on finer fabrics.” They also suggest having seasonal clothing cleaned before putting it away because some minor stains can become worse over time. The Raggis are experts at sanitizing beloved stuffed animals in their ozone closet. They use a similar process for cleaning hockey equipment, pet beds, luggage. “Even the McKenzie School Mascot received an ozone cleaning.” Kurt Raggi said. “The ozone process removes the odor and cleans away about 99 percent of the bacteria. Steven Tetzlaf works at the drive-up window to service customers more quickly. Not all of the odor can be eliminated especially with sports equipment.” The Raggis have been know to “do surgery” on beloved stuffed animals whose arms or legs needed some tender loving repair [sewing]. The couple takes pride in checking all pockets of all garments that are brought in for cleaning. “You have no idea of what we find in pockets besides money, jewelry and tissues,” Kurt Raggi said. “We used to find hand-written love letters but no more. When I think I have seen everything, something new shows up.” All of the items are carefully placed in special envelopes for customers to pick up with their cleaned garments. A fond memory the Raggis have is the time a bride-to-be was at the church across the street taking photos when an important button on her bridal gown popped off. “The bridemaid ran here and asked us if we could sew it on,” Rita Raggi said. “We did and Kurt and Rita Raggi, owners of Wilmette Tailors & Cleaners,are shown working at the 819 Ridge Road store in Wilmette. Photos by Hilary Anderson/22nd Century Media Olga Maldanado, the store’s tailor, has been with Wilmette Tailors & Cleaners for 16 years. all was well.” The Raggis routinely participate in community outreach programs. One is cleaning American Flags for free. They also participate in the Suits for Success program. “People donate men’s suits they no longer want,” Kurt Raggi said. “We clean and prepare them to be given to men leaving prison so they can have a respectable wardrobe and go on job interviews after their release.” “We have cleaned everything imaginable from Santa’s suits to prayer shawls to a child’s dress with balloons sewn onto the hem,” Rita Raggi said. “We take pride in taking something that is considered “ruined” and make it look like new,” Kurt Raggi said. “This is our job and we love it.” American flags can be brought in and cleaned for free at any time. Donations of men’s suits also are accepted at any time. More information is available on its Facebook page.
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