Changing fashions spell end for city dry cleaners
OWNER ALSO BLAMES LACK OF FOOTFALL IN STREET
A DERBY shop has blamed changing fashions and the decline of the city centre for its closure after 16 years.
Wardwick Dry Cleaning shut last week following the closure of its sister alterations shop two years ago. It was one of the few dry cleaners left in the city to still clean customers’ clothes on-site.
Owner Richard Robinson opened his alterations shop in the Wardwick in 1999. He opened another shop, for dry cleaning, next door in 2003. The alterations shop closed in 2017 and the dry cleaning business shut last week.
Mr Robinson said a reduction in footfall in the city centre, and fewer people using dry cleaners, had forced him to close the business.
The 78-year-old said: “We stopped making a profit in 2007.
“It’s been a struggle ever since Intu opened. The footfall has dropped off. It was such a busy place before then and it’s very quiet now.”
Mr Robinson said he had a staff of 10 across both shops in the early 2000s but, in the months before the dry-cleaning business closed, there were only two - including himself. His alterations business used to rely on trade from Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Next, but when these shops moved to Intu (then Westfield) in 2007 his takings suffered a significant hit. He had planned to enter semi-retirement but as business conditions worsened he decided he had to stay on. He said his dry cleaner, Hamesh Raja, was “the best in the business” but he could not continue to fight closed Wardwick Dry Cleaning after 16 years against the decreasing demand for dry cleaning.
He said: “It seems that quality doesn’t count for as much these days. And people are not wearing suits in the office any more. It seems to be a lot more of a casual style. Every dry cleaner seems to be in the same position.”
He added that problems with beggars and drug users, which he admitted had largely been dealt with in recent months, had left a permanent scar on the Cathedral Quarter.
Max Allen, who runs three branches of The Spondon Dry Cleaning Company in Derby with his wife Judith, agreed with Mr Robinson that the industry was struggling on a national scale.
He said: “In terms of volume, dry cleaning has been in decline for 10 to 15 years. The costs keep going up but it’s very hard to pass those on to people. The problem is that it’s an expensive process.”
A spokesperson for the Cathedral Quarter Business Improvement District (BID) said: “We have been working with Wardwick Dry Cleaning for some time to help them raise their profile through the BID channels and are disappointed that the business has decided to close.
“The BID, and particularly the Cathedral Quarter Rangers, have worked effectively in partnership with Derby City Council and Derbyshire police to tackle issues.
“We continue to work proactively with all the businesses in this street and across the wider Cathedral Quarter area to identify specific issues and opportunities. The vast majority of businesses recognise that coming together under the BID is far more effective than operating in isolation.”