Appeara Marks Centennial

Appeara, an industrial independent based in Norfolk, NE, is celebrating a century in business this year, according to news reports.

Owner/operator Bob Dudley told a reporter that his great-grandfather, George M. Dudley, would scarcely recognize the business today, but he’d surely be proud to see that the company has endured for a full century. “I think he would be shocked to see what we do today, the number of garments,” said Bob, a fourth-generation president of the family business. “We’re doing 25,000 garments a day. I don’t know what he was doing at the time, but I’m quite sure it was well short of that.”

Bob added that George M. and his brother Charles established the business as Dudley Laundry Co. in 1916. It originally offered washing and ironing services to consumers, but added business accounts in later years as the industry shifted away from home laundry.

Bob’s grandfather, Darrel Dudley, launched the textile services business under the name Servall; and it continues today. In 2001, the company rebranded itself as “Appeara” when it entered the same territory as a Sioux Falls, SD, company that also was named Servall. “We had bought another company at Yankton, and that company’s territory took me to Sioux Falls,” Bob said. “It was a good time to rebrand.”

Today’s Appeara services a territory that extends 180 miles from Norfolk, including customers in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. Click here for details.