JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Pearle Graham, owner of Spot Rite Cleaners in Jacksonville's historic Eastside, says she inherited the business after the owner retired.
It's been around for close to 100 years, serving the Eastside community.
“Started working here, and after I bought the business then I bought the strip then, everything else is history," said Pearle Graham, owner at Spot Rite Cleaners.
A history that started when Graham moved with her 2-year-old daughter from Bulter, Georgia to Jacksonville.
“I had never worked anywhere except in the cotton field, picking cotton," Graham said.
Graham found work cleaning the bathrooms at Spot Rite Cleaners. But her sewing skills quickly helped her move up.
She was promoted and became a seamstress.
Over the years, Graham says her and the owners grew close.
“He said, when I retire I want to make sure you have this business… he and his wife they were very beautiful people, and they treated me like I was family," Graham said.
Graham has seen the Eastside change over the years. According to the Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation, the Eastside was once filled with a prominent African American working-class community.
Graham says drugs and crime have plagued the area, at times affecting business.
“You know when they tore this Eastside down, tore a lot of the house down, a lot of my customers went other places cause they moved from this side of town, but business is still good," Graham said.
Today, Graham owns this multi-unit building which houses the cleaners, a church and other tenants.
She also passed her entrepreneurial spirit to her children. Graham says her daughters are businesswomen and her son played in the NFL.
“I’ve been poor too long and now that God has blessed me to be able to be an entrepreneur, I’m going to pass it on to my children," Graham said.