Classic Cleaners will remain open under new management

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Classic Cleaners is still open, offering dry cleaning, laundry and other services under new management.

The Charles City business formerly was owned by Steve and Sherri Dralle, and they did the dry-cleaning process at their facility in Waverly.

That Waverly business was destroyed in a fire Dec. 27, and while the Dralles are deciding whether to rebuild the 32-year-old company in their hometown, they decided to close the Charles City location as of Jan. 15.

Enter Charles City developer Charlie Thomson, who purchased the business effective Monday.

“Charles City has always had a dry cleaner, and it always looked busy,” Thomson said. “I knew the people who worked there.”

He said he called the Dralles and “got the numbers,” and “it made business sense to acquire it on the terms we agreed to.”

The business will remain at its existing location at 601 N. Main St. for now, Thomson said, adding that he is currently a tenant of the building and the property.

Thomson said he has located a company to do the actual dry cleaning and promised the turnaround time will be as quick as before — “maybe a little faster.”

He said the company that will be doing the dry cleaning, which he declined to identify, uses very little of the perchloroethylene, or “perc,” chemical that has caused controversy in the dry cleaning industry because of its purported toxicity.

“That’s the chemical that scares people,” Thomson said. “California was trying to ban it.”

The company that Classic Cleaners will now use for dry cleaning mostly uses what is known as K4 solvent, which is called environmentally friendly and safer for users.

“It has as good or better results on clothing,” Thomson said.

Wet washing of laundry and all pressing will continue to be done in Charles City, he said.

“We have some expert technicians there,” he said, adding that two of the employees of the former business will now act as co-managers.

“We’re open for business right now,” he said. “Same hours, same name.”