Meet Vogue Cleaners Owner Bill Shroyer
Life-Long Vogue Cleaners Owner and Muncie Resident Talks Politics, Business & More
Writer & Photographer David Fennig
Bill Shroyer is a proud life-long resident of Muncie. He is a family man, a business owner, a local landlord and he served on the City Council for six terms and spent 14 years as Council president.
He came into office in 1984 and his last term in office was 2008. I had a good run, and I enjoyed it, Shroyer says. I learned a lot.
According to Shroyer, there was no easy way to drive into and park in downtown during the late 1980s. We had some key issues downtown to address and we got that done, Shroyer says. I really feel like its not me, it was we. We got the downtown turned around.
Just like many cities throughout the country, Muncies downtown had become unattractive to new business investment in the 80s. Buildings were abandoned and boarded up and the area was unappealing to most shoppers or residents.
My goal was to make Muncie a better city to live and work in, he says. What was good for Muncie was good for me.
He lists accomplishments not only in downtown redevelopment but bringing in the southside Walmart and a developer to restore the dilapidated Roberts Hotel along with changing tax laws to help make Muncie more accessible to business owners. I was a part of rezoning and bringing in Meijer and Menards, Shroyer says.
After considering his long career in politics and the many different decisions he had to make and votes to cast, Shroyer noted that he would change only three of his past votes, though he didnt elaborate on which ones.
My answer was this I voted the way I thought was the right way at that time. I voted my conscience. I knew going in I wasnt going to make everyone happy, he says.
Shroyer owns and operates Vogue Cleaners which currently has four locations around town.
At one time I had five locations, he says. Shroyer has been in the business for 55 years and hs seen many different changes to the business. He has started new locations, bought existing ones, closed some, remodeled others and even lost one store to a fire.
On May 19th, 2014, the south side location caught fire and burned down. Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire, but the building was gone in 25 minutes.
The fire really set us back for a couple years, Shroyer says. We lost everything in it. But we bought all new cleaning machines and presses.
Currently, that new equipment is at the Vogue Cleaners on Willard and allows the entire business to not only be more efficient economically but much more environmentally friendly as well.
Now Shroyer is optimistic for the future of his businesses and for Muncie.
In a simple statement that summarizes his life and career, I put Muncie first, Shroyer says.
