TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) – You may not need a dress or suit to work from home.

A Terre Haute dry cleaner reports a decrease in demand for services. Laundromats and dry cleaners are considered essential businesses. Courtesy Cleaning Centers in Terre Haute have remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Courtesy Cleaners employee Pat Bennett says he's glad to have remained open.

"We were lucky that we were deemed essential, because people need clean clothes, regardless of what's going on in the world,” said Bennett.

As folks work from home, dry cleaning has declined.

"Dry cleaning did drop off pretty significantly, pretty suddenly, but they changed the production hours. it used to be we'd have things ready the next day. Now, it's every other day we'll run the plant, so there's an amount of things built up, so we can give the employees’ hours."

Bennett says the production schedule may change once demand increases. The business is taking precautions to protect staff and customers. Laundry machines are being wiped down every hour.

“Staff are always wearing masks, generally wearing gloves. Sometimes what they have to do entails gloves already, so it hasn't been a big stress on them."

You’ll see signs throughout the laundry mat encouraging social distancing. Bennett says business is starting to pick back up.

"We have a limit of 25 people in each location at a time, but we haven't had that issue with, we haven't had a line outside like some businesses.”

An article from John Hopkins Medicine suggests that the virus does not survive as well on a soft surface such as fabric.