The Cleanery

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. A regular walked into The Cleanery one day and asked the clerk with a straight face: ‘Is it true you can clean anything here?’ The clerk smiled mysteriously and replied, ‘Absolutely—even your bad luck!’ A few days later, a delivery driver dropped off a package labeled ‘urgent’ and whispered, ‘Please clean my bad mood.’ The clerk nodded knowingly, gave him a smile—and promptly spilled coffee on his shirt. As the driver stormed out, muttering curses, the clerk shrugged and said to an amused neighbor, ‘We’ll get there eventually!’

2. A delivery driver left his truck for a moment outside The Cleanery. When he returned, something unusual caught his eye—a small, dusty box had appeared in the backseat. Curious, he opened it to discover an old, handwritten note inside that read: ‘Take care of this.’ He carefully folded up the note and placed everything back where he found it. Later that evening, while dropping off another package, he noticed an old lady waving from her balcony across the street. She smiled warmly and said, 'Thank you for taking such good care of my little treasure!' Turned out she’d lost it years ago.

3. Have you ever noticed how clean everything looks after it’s been cleaned at The Cleanery? Well, one curious customer wondered aloud if they could leave their suitcase there overnight—just to see what would happen. Soon enough, a regular dropped off his suitcase and asked if it was okay to stay over night. Next morning, when he came back, the case was spotless—but also suspiciously lighter. Turns out, someone had taken out all his old pens and pencils for recycling! Moral of the story: always check your pockets before dropping off at The Cleanery.

4. A little girl followed her mom into The Cleanery one Saturday morning. As she waited for her dress to be pressed, she pointed excitedly at the window, whispering, ‘Mommy, look! It’s dancing!’ Her mother smiled and said, ‘Honey, that’s just the reflection of the sun on the wet clothes.’ They both laughed, and as they left, the little girl turned back and waved goodbye to the dancing shadow in the window. From then on, whenever someone mentioned The Cleanery, people would smile and say, “Oh, you know—the place where the dress does its little dance.”