Dry Cleaning with Care

As an independently-owned, family-run, small business, we provide personalized dry cleaning services to our customers. That means our business relies on dedicated staff—not machinery—to provide the high-quality, individualized services that our customers have come to know and appreciate.  

Discount dry cleaners rely on machines rather than skilled, experienced professionals. Like fast food restaurants, their very existence depends on churning out the highest volume of clothing as quickly as possible, with little attention to detail. Personalized care and attention is given to every item serviced at our store: that is how we manage the stains on your favorite sweater; how we iron the wrinkles on your blouse that the machine missed and/or created; and that is how we know to sew the button that you didn’t even know was loose on your dress shirt.

In response to the controversy surrounding a discount cleaner that is coming to our neighborhood, Charles Gelfand, a Texas businessman who sells dry cleaning equipment, wrote an editorial in the Deerfield Patch (1) encouraging existing drycleaners to purchase new equipment so that they may become more “green” and (2) suggesting that some Deerfield stores discriminate against women. Mr. Gelfand’s suggestion that we are discriminatory is illogical and disingenuous as he is well aware that cleaning a silk blouse is more time-consuming and costly than cleaning an oxford button-down if you do it right. Moreover, Mr. Gelfand’s self-serving suggestion that we purchase new “green” equipment because the discount dry cleaners have better, nonpolluting machinery is plainly false and misguided. There is nothing special about the machines or cleaning technology used at discount dry cleaners. Our dry cleaner has been using efficient, environmentally-friendly technology and solvents for over ten years. Our safety and environmental practices exceed current state and federal guidelines, reflecting our deep respect and commitment to building a greener community. While Mr. Gelfand can support discount cleaners all he wants, the concern for Deerfield residents is what the environmental impact of the largest dry cleaner ever to be built in this town would be.

In the end, we support the right of Deerfield residents to choose where they entrust their clothing. We know that they will recognize the superior service and quality of our work versus a big-box chain that will ultimately compromise quality for a discount. In that sense, that is no competition.

-Osterman Cleaners, Deerfield, IL