THUNDER BAY — There’s some good news in store for local residents who mourned the closure of Thunder Bay’s last personal dry cleaning service earlier this year.
Supreme Cleaners, which announced in August it was folding the personal dry cleaning side of its operations, recently shared the good news in a print ad taken out in The Source newspaper.
“We are excited that our 225 Camelot Street location will re-open for business with new owners soon,” the ad reads.
In an interview, co-owner Don Buset said some details remain to be finalized, but he was “reasonably confident” a potential sale will go through.
It means there will be at least one personal dry cleaning service open again in a city that used to have around 10.
Buset said the company placed the ad to get the word out because the closure had generated intense interest and disappointment.
“Unfortunately we had to [close],” he said. “We got a lot of feedback from the community … so that’s why we decided, we should keep everybody informed about what’s taking place.”
“I’d never seen it until I got into this business, how important clothes are to people. They get very emotional about it.”
Buset estimates it could take six to eight weeks for the business to launch under new owners, calling dry cleaning “a hands-on business” that requires significant staff and training.
“There’s a lot of aspects to dry cleaning — there’s intake, you have to have computers; you have to have people, which is the most important … There’s a lot of different stations and sub-operations within this type of business.”
Supreme Cleaners had cited a staff shortage and hiring difficulties for its decision to close, while continuing to run its commercial and industrial dry cleaning operations, along with linen and tablecloth rentals.
Buset reported the new owner has a plan to secure adequate workers.
