THUNDER BAY — A deal that would have seen personal dry cleaning services resume in Thunder Bay has fallen through.
A spokesperson for Supreme Cleaners says the party the company was negotiating with last fall "have not been able to fulfill their wish to acquire the business" at 225 Camelot Street.
The company was confident enough at that time that it took out an ad announcing that the sale of the facility was pending, but the transaction came to a halt after the potential purchaser experienced a business setback.
Co-owner Don Buset said in an interview Wednesday that Supreme Cleaners is continuing to seek other investors in Southern Ontario who are willing to set up shop in Thunder Bay and learn how to run a dry cleaning business.
Supreme Cleaners continues to offer commercial and industrial dry cleaning, but it stopped providing personal dry cleaning last August, citing staffing shortages and hiring challenges.
At one point, there were 10 operating dry cleaners in Thunder Bay.
"The cost of operating a dry cleaning business is exceptionally high, and it does mean individual commitment, not just to hire somebody off the street to operate it," Buset said. "You need education, you need training, you need staff that are willing to stay on."
"The profitability is there, but it's not just that you open up the shop and all of a sudden without doing any work you make a lot of money. It doesn't work that way."
Supreme Cleaners is leaving the equipment in the Camelot Street building in place while it looks for an interested buyer or a partner who would co-own the business.
