Mother, daughter click as business partners in Cross Plains dry cleaning venture

By Pamela Cotant

A dry cleaning business started by two sisters quickly and seamlessly became a mother-daughter operation.

Sisters on Main Drycleaners, 2022 Main St. in Cross Plains, was opened five years ago by Cathy Barman and her sister, Mary Schmitz, who had been laid off from her human resources job. But two months later, Schmitz got a job offer she couldn’t pass up.

At the same time, Barman’s daughter, Holly Kalscheuer, now 25, was looking for a job with steady hours while she attended the former Madison Cosmetology College. There, she was working toward a license in the aesthetics area, learning skills in like skin care and body wraps.

Kalscheuer joined Sisters on Main, and while it is now technically a mother-daughter business, the company name still seems appropriate. Kalscheuer is one of three sisters. Barman is one of seven sisters.

Barman said the name has stuck, partly because she figures the business is always something her other daughters — Tina, 30, and Stephanie, 27 — can fall back on if need be.

“It is just a cute name that clicked,” said Barman, who opened a second location on Main Street in Mount Horeb.

Barman, now 51, has been sewing since she was 5 and learned how to make doll clothes from her grandmother. In high school, she made prom dresses for friends and sewed for her first full wedding when her sister got married. The next year, she made dresses for her own wedding to Michael Barman.

She went on to do alterations and custom sewing for 20 some years through a home-based business called Cathy’s Creations. Then 10 years ago, she became a manager of a dry cleaning store in Madison.

When Barman decided to open up shop on Main Street in Cross Plains, she combined both of her skill areas and has gradually expanded the business, which has become a “one-stop shop” for wedding needs from the creation of custom bridal and bridesmaid gowns to tuxedo rental.

Kalscheuer has helped her mother expand the business by suggesting and then ordering a line of jewelry that brides can buy to accessorize their gowns.

In January 2006, the other Sisters on Main was opened at 216 W. Main St. in Mount Horeb as an outlet. All of the dry cleaning is still done in Cross Plains, which expanded into additional space about 1½ years ago.

Having two generations working in the business is an advantage because mother and daughter can offer different opinions to the brides, who range in age. Kalscheuer, who has become interested in beading, has brought that into play in the business by doing some beadwork on custom veils.

The two have become closer since they began working together, a chance they might not have had otherwise, Kalscheuer said, because she is married to Craig Kalscheuer and no longer lives at home.

But they have some separation in the business. Barman is the owner and heads up the sewing and dry cleaning end of the business and mostly works out of the Cross Plains location.

Kalscheuer, who handles much of the business side, is the office manager of the Cross Plains store and the manager in Mount Horeb. She also runs the deliveries, helps operate the dry cleaning equipment, presses clothes and generally pitches in where needed.

Mother and daughter have found they work well together, and Kalscheur is comfortable in her role.

“She’s the owner so obviously her opinion stands. But of course I’m going to voice my opinion if I think something isn’t going right,” Barman said. “It’s never anything too major to be butting heads about.”

Mother and daughter also know when to avoid each other if they are having a bad day.

Kalscheuer, whose husband works with his father, said she tries not to talk about work outside of the business, partly because she thinks other family members can’t relate to it. Kalscheuer has cousins who have worked at the business before college and one is working there now.

Barman, who still calls the sister who was her former business partner when she has human resources questions, said she also doesn’t hesitate to call her daughter when she has a question. She even figured out a way to get around any reluctance by Barman to answer the calls.

“I learned how to text so I text her,” she said.
 

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