NEWS

 

Please Come By to Pick Up Any Dry Cleaning You May Have Left Behind

BK Custom Cleaners, the large end cap tenant at Sadler Square for nearly 30 years, is closing at the end of October. This small business in Davidson is owned by Ben and Kay Son, and they are asking their longtime customers to come quickly and get their dry cleaning.

Ben and Kay are trying their best to reach all of their customers. In some cases, the only contact information they have is a disconnected landline number the customer provided long ago. It never mattered before. Customers could come in anytime to pick up their cleaning and alterations, no rush. Until now.

The enormous revolving garment conveyor that winds through the space like a roller coaster was hand built by Ben Son to fit into the rental space. It still holds hundreds of garments, but the numbers are dwindling as customers come to collect their garments for the last time.

Several lovely wedding dresses are unclaimed after many years. The Sons know the stories behind some of the gowns and why they were left behind. Other dresses simply hang waiting, mysteriously, for years. Kay is exploring the possibility of donating the abandoned dresses to Ada Jenkins in the hopes that they will find their way to new brides.

It wasn’t Ben and Kay’s choice to close their business and they are devastated.

After many months of rental limbo along with other Sadler Square tenants, the Sons were recently informed that they can no longer do garment cleaning onsite at the rental property, as they have for decades. Kay says that they tried to negotiate to keep the large warehouse space in the back of Sadler Square, where they keep all their machinery and equipment. The machinery is the lifeblood of their business, where all the value resides. But they were told that their dry-cleaning machinery would have to leave the premises, and they could only lease a storefront space, limited to pickup and drop-off.

The complex machinery housed in the massive warehouse space represents a family’s lifetime investment. The Sons own all the equipment, having paid it off and kept it in good condition over three decades.

The Sons explained that the cost to have the multitude of large, specialized machines professionally moved and stored is astronomical. To reassemble the machinery in a new location would take nearly a year, and many of the older, larger machines simply can’t be moved. Dismantling this business will destroy it.

So if you dropped off your pale aqua prom dress with Ben and Kay and haven’t picked it up, come get it. If you have neglected reclaiming that heirloom quilt or those damask draperies, come now. Perhaps the tuxedo you wore to a spring wedding is still hanging pristinely on their garment conveyor. Come by to claim it sooner rather than later.

The business must vacate the premises by October 31. Kay and Ben estimate that they will need to close the doors to customers no later than October 24 to give them a week to move some of the last items out. And even if you don’t have clothes to reclaim, please drop in to say a heartfelt goodbye to the Son family.