So, I got pissed off at my dry cleaner that I’d been going to for the last 5 years and decided it was time for a change. I tried out 5 different cleaners around my house and would love to share the results with you. If you live in the greater one square block area around Loehman’s Plaza, this may prove useful to you, otherwise, feel free to ignore.
I first stopped at “Sav-On” Cleaners on Fair Oaks Blvd, in the same shopping center as Kozen and the Supercuts. This was on the recommendation of Mrs. Eats. While I found the service to be friendly, I found the list of rules on the walls to be a bit daunting. There were, and I promise I’m not exaggeterating, 8 rules posted on a giant red sign indicating the conditions that needed to be met if you ever asked for a piece of clothing to be “recleaned.” These were not the only rules on the walls however. There were also signs discussing prepayment, lost merchandise, fees, fines, charges, days spent in purgatory, etc. They also didn’t clean my clothes very well and they “tagged” my pants on the back belt loop which meant I spent a full day with a laundry tag on my ass without realizing it. To avoid that future embarassment, I will no longer clean there.
I then travelled to Raymond’s Cleaners in Loehman’s Center next to the EB Games and UPS Store. While the folks running the place were very friendly, the prices were sky high and they didn’t know how to use their own credit card machine. I had to wait twenty minutes to pick up my 4 shirts and 2 pants for $21. Thanks but no thanks.
Next was a quick stop by Rytina on the Fulton extension to check prices. I discovered that for the price of a few laundered shirts and pairs of pants cleaned at Rytina’s, I could purchase several CD’s, two new shirts, an hour long massage, a trip for two to London and a small Carribean Island, and have $3.49 change left over. To hell with that. (Ditto for Swanson’s next to the Pavillions)
Next was James Marc Master Dry Cleaner in the Univerty Vllage center wedged between Long’s and the Greek Village Inn. Price was a little high, but service was good and my clothes looked super fine.
Finally, I visited Arden Fair Cleaners on Fair Oaks Blvd next to Pescado’s and the doggie bakery place. This turned out to be my best stop. The location is clean, the staff friendly and the prices reasonable. That, and they have monthly coupons in the mail. They did a good job on my clothes and didn’t tag my pants. Good work folks.
So, recommendations are:
Regular Dry Cleaning-Arden Fair Cleaners
Special Dry Cleaning-James Marc
The Sac Rag 
I’ve never noticed the stringent rules at Sav-On, mostly because one of the friendly employees there has a sweet “SACRAMENTO” tat that takes up the entire length of one of his arms.
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Here’s a shout-out for Sav-On: When I picked up my 20 or so items a couple weeks ago, I didn’t notice that one of my sassy going-out tops came back without the sash that goes around the waist, and I didn’t realize it until this week. “No way will they still have that sash after this long,” I thought to myself. Imagine my delight when I took the top in this morning and explained what was missing. He said, “I know exactly where that is,” and he brought it to me cleaned, pressed, and on a hanger. He apologized profusely, and he explained that their procedure is to tag multi-piece items a certain way, and that wasn’t done, and he apologized again. I’m not sure if this caring and concern has anything to do with the embroidered religious fish on all employees’ shirts, but I was impressed with the professionalism.
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Here’s something I’ve come to realize… If you want your clothing cleaned well, your expensive things to not come back to you looking like they went through the laundry machine, well you just have to pay more! I love Rytina’s. While they are more expensive the girls on the counters are wonderful and they do a great job with my clothes!
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Our customers pay a lot more for “girls on the counters” too.
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