Spring Cleaners and Laundry will clean and launder no more

After nearly 22 years of providing dry cleaning services to central Ohio, Spring Cleaners and Laundry in Italian Village will be closing up shop.

Dorothy Gall, the owner, rents the property from Lykens Companies. They own loads of places all over Columbus, including the Wonder Bread lofts. Lykens changed Gall’s lease agreement to a month-to-month basis earlier this year. That’s when Gall first decided to shut down.

“I can’t operate a business like that,” said Gall. “People leave their clothes here for several months at a time. If I have to tell them they have 30 days to come pick up their clothes every time they drop them off, they won’t trust my business to stay open.”

She fears her customers would view her establishment as unstable and take their business elsewhere.

Gall says she believes Lykens changed the terms of the Spring Cleaners and Laundry lease as a way to muscle her out. She says they want to demolish the building to develop more housing.

Gall sees what happened to her dry cleaning business as something unfortunate but nothing that isn’t already happening to other small business around town.

“Creating housing comes at a premium: losing small businesses,” said Gall. “There are no amenities anymore, only craft breweries.”

Spring Cleaners and Laundry will not open up another location. Gall said it would be too expensive. Instead, she’ll find work elsewhere.

“It has been a great pleasure to service your needs and should our circumstances change, we will keep you, our customers, informed,” Gall wrote in a release.

June 22 will be the last day of operation, though customers with items already processed will be able to come pick them up until June 30. After the shutdown, Spring Cleaners customers can redeem 20 percent off their cleaning bill for 90 days if they visit Dublin Cleaners.

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