Content about Plant Profiles

BURBANK, Calif. — When Milt Chortkoff retired from dry cleaning in 1983, he was an old hand at it. Having started out at his father’s plant, Hollyway Laundry & Dry Cleaners in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, in 1939, he had already spent more than 40 years in the trade. It was, he thought, time for rest and relaxation. And so Chortkoff and his wife, Edie, retired to travel the world.

And after just a couple of years, “I got very bored,” he says.

Powerless against the pull of the business he grew up in, and eager to champion the service credos he had learned throughout the years, Chortkoff re-entered dry cleaning as a consultant. And soon enough, he found himself consulting at a plant that he could buy and run as his own. “I love the action,” he says. “After all, I’ve worked in a cleaners since I was 10 years old. I just love the business.”

Operators returning to the industry sawed off an abandoned building to create a dream plant, taking Plant Design honors.

Saturated with drycleaners of every shape and size, the Chicago market can be tough for a new operation to crack. Going up against the hundreds of Mom-and-Pop shops, chain stores and couture cleaners can seem like an impossible task.

But with focused market positioning and a strong brand, a new operation can still carve out a niche for itself. Now two years old, DryClean Direct has done just that with a green-hued value proposition that’s designed to appeal to urban consumers.

Outstanding Central Plant: DC Center Cleaners, Woodside, N.Y.

Operator Albert Lee had already consolidated production into a central plant once to handle growth, and his continued success recently forced the operation to move again. This time, the company — now one of the largest on the East Coast — faced a massive project. The 20,000-square-foot space Lee had located in Queens required a complete overhaul, but it was the blank slate onto which he could draw the plant of his dreams.

SOUTHPORT, N.C. — When Bill and Linda May, proprietors of River Run Cleaners in Southport, N.C., switched to a new hydrocarbon system, they thought they might save some money over their old perc machine. But more important was their contribution to a cleaner environment — something that they hope their new granddaughter, year-old Quinn Caitlin Magee, will inherit in the future.

“What’s she going to have when she’s my age?” asks Bill May, 60.

Whether the plant is an established hub of the community or a vanguard of new development, each of the runners up in American Drycleaner's 47th Annual Plant Design Awards displayed improved efficiencies, outstanding aesthetics and exceptional comfort. Congratulations to the 10 Merit Award-winning plants!

Admiral Cleaners, Annapolis, Md.

NEW YORK — After years of searching in one of the highest-priced real estate markets in the nation, Meurice Garment Care operator Wayne Edelman got an unexpected call from his broker. There was a building available in the Bronx that might be able to house a large drycleaning plant. Edelman immediately got up from his desk and went to meet the broker.

American Drycleaner has named Crazy Cleanerz in Cordova, Tenn., the Best Plant Design in its 46th Annual Plant Design Awards. The high-volume, low-price plant uses lots of high-tech equipment to take most of the guesswork (and much of the cost) out of processing huge numbers of garments.

More exceptional plant projects from American Drycleaner's 46th Annual Plant Design Awards.

Jenny K Dry Cleaners began the renovation of its small satellite location in Meridian, Conn., by replacing its counters. Soon, operators Al and Ana Marques noticed something unusual: a steady increase in new customers that was producing a storage crunch.