Park Avenue $2.25 Cleaners
-- FAQ --

Compare other cleaners to our price of $2.25 per garment:
Actual prices as of Jan 1, 2008

Now accepting Visa/Mastercard/debit cards

What are your prices?
Any garment that we dry clean and/or press is only $2.25 each. We are one of the few “one price” cleaners that actually stand behind our advertising. Some cleaners lure you with “teaser” prices, but still charge extra for items that are not considered “normal” by their standards. Not us! We even clean formal gowns for $2.25.
Men’s laundered dress shirts, with or without starch, are only $1.75 each. (These will be long-sleeved shirts made of 100% cotton or a cotton/poly blend that are typically worn with ties).Silk and rayon shirts should typically be dry cleaned to preserve the color and texture of the fabric.

Dry Clean only Bed Spread: (any size) $17.50 each

Dry Clean only Comforter (no down filled): (any size) $25.00 each

Dry Clean only Pillow Shams: $2.25 each

The Big Picture:

Our average customer cleans 10 pieces per week.
Using the average price of our competitors, it equates to a savings of over $1,100.00 per year. We actually have a lot  of customers saving up to $2000.00 per year on their cleaning bill.
In any economy....this is a substantial savings.

What are the store hours?
7am to 7pm .... .......Monday to Saturday
Closed ....................Sunday
24 hour drop-off......Anytime!

Can I get my clothes done the same day?
Yes, all dry cleaning that comes in before 10am will be ready by 4pm that same day, including Saturdays. Laundered shirts brought in by 3pm will be ready the next day after 4pm.

How can I use the 24 hour drop-off / Express service
Starting August 1st, 2008 our customers will have the ability to drop their clothes off 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is a fantastic service for those that work odd hours, run errands on Sundays, or do not want to wait in line. Think of how nice it would be to avoid rush hour traffic by dropping your clothes off after hours. In order to use this service, you will have a one-time set-up fee of $10.00. You will also have to drop off at least 1 garment during normal business hours, so we can set up your account and process your credit card. Once we have this information all you have to do is place your clothes in the “express” bag we provide, with any special care instructions and deposit the bag into the drop-box. Your clothes will be processed as if you walked through the front door. Dry cleaning dropped off before 10am will be ready that day after 4pm. Laundry dropped off before 2:30pm will be ready the next business day after 4pm.
Example: You deposit 5 pants and 5 laundered dress shirts at 10pm Monday night. These clothes will be invoiced Tuesday morning, making the dry cleaned pants ready the same day (Tuesday) after 4pm and the laundered shirts ready the next day (Wednesday) after 4pm.

Why do you charge a $10.00 set up fee for the 24 hour service?
Essentially, we are passing the costs of the custom printed bags and installation of our 24 hour depository, on to you. Some cleaners either charge you a little extra each time you use the service or offer it as a complimentary service to their VIP customers. Typically, those that offer this service for free are the same cleaners charging you an average of $6.00 per garment for dry cleaning. Either way, the customer absorbs the added costs at some point.

Why do you require payment in advance?
Several reasons:
1. To keep our costs down. While other cleaners are left with the expense of cleaning clothes that are never picked up, we are not. Those cleaners that let you pay when you pick up have to make their paying customers absord the loss from those customers not picking up.
2. Pre-payment also reduces employee theft. At the end of each day, our deposits should match our receipts. We do not have to do inventory each month to check for theft, as other cleaners do.
3. We do not use “up-charges”. Up-charges are additional fees added on to the base price of having a garment cleaned. Most high priced cleaners will add an extra charge for pleats, silks, linings, etc…One local "expensive" cleaners advertises $8.95 per suit, but adds an "up-charge" if it's made of wool. Since most suits are made of wool, we feel it's deceptive for that cleaners to advertise their suit price as $8.95.
If they told you what the total cost of your cleaning would be, with all the up-charges", at the time you dropped them off, it’s likely you would not leave them. It’s kind of like keeping your clothes hostage, since you MUST pay the adjusted price in order to get them back. There are no surprises with us, what we advertise is what you get.
Acceptable forms of payment: Cash, Check, MasterCard, Visa, and Debit

What do I get for $2.25?
Your clothes will be professionally dry cleaned in one of two 60lb Realstar dry cleaning machines. They will be pressed in the same manner with the same type of pressing equipment as other higher priced dry cleaners and we pre-spot and/or post-spot any stains you point out or we catch during our quality control process. We also use one of the top detergents on the market today, made by a European company called Seitz. Specifically, we use Seitz Novaclin Super Fresh and Seitz Polyspot SL. These two products are expensive, but because of how well they work, they keep our processing time down. The Seitz products are especially good for cleaning silks, so those Tommy-Bahama style shirts come out looking awesome. One thing a lot of high priced cleaners will do, is charge their customers for dry cleaning just to wash the garments in water. Granted, they are probably following the care label’s directions, but if you want your silk shirts to stay soft and colorful, they should typically be dry cleaned. Along with top quality dry cleaning, you will also receive customer service better or comparable to the other quality dry cleaners charging more than double our prices.

I heard that discount cleaners do less quality work. Is that true?
In some cases yes and in other cases no. It's really dependent on the owner of the store and/or the person or company that has trained them.

Some discount cleaners do not take the time to pre-spot stains or use detergents during the cleaning process. Their are also a few discount cleaners that take short cuts during the pressing process to save time and money. None of these short cuts need to be taken in order to maintain a profitable store.
Truthfully, there are even high-priced dry cleaners out there cutting some of the same corners, so do not be persuaded to think you will get more by paying more.
We have had thousands of customers use us and say, “Everything looks as good as it did at the other cleaners that charged me 3 times this price”….In fact, we often hear our service and quality is better.

We don’t believe you should get less because you paid less.

Do you dry clean your clothes on site?
Yes, we do all of our own dry cleaning on site; however, we do send our laundered men’s shirts off site to be processed. By processing our dry cleaning on site, it reduces the chances of lost garments, lost orders, and poor quality. Most dry cleaners will have numerous drop stores and one central plant to process all the cleaning. Unfortunately, if you have an issue with your clothes and you use a drop store, it can take a lot longer to fix the problem. It’s not uncommon for us to be able to repress or spot something while you wait, as you are coming directly to the factory/plant when you use us.

I have to Pre-Pay....What if something gets damaged?
There should be no difference in how you are treated as a customer if you pay first or at pick up. If we ruin something, we pay for it. We would not be in business or continue to be, if we do not stand behind our work and/or take responsibility for our mistakes.
Any garment that is not safe for dry cleaning must have a “do not dry clean” warning on the care label. Clothes that have color bleeding or design damage from our process, but do not have a “do not dry clean” warning, should be returned to the place of purchase. If the damage was caused by poor handling on our part, then we will take responsibility; however, we should not be held responsible for poor quality manufacturing or mislabeling by the manufacturer.

Why did you reject one or more of my garments?
We reject garments for many reasons. If we feel the garment may get damaged during the care process it will be rejected. If the label says, "Do not dry clean", or clean in a manner that may be safer and more effective, then we will also reject it.
Once a garment has been rejected, we will either refund/credit your money or clean it with your consent and understanding that we will not be responsible for any damage to it.

Is your process different from other dry cleaners?
Yes and No. “Yes”, in that we have the knowledge and capacity to process clothes much more efficiently and “No”, because we buy from the same suppliers and use the same type of cleaning and pressing equipment as those cleaners charging more than double our price.

Why do some cleaners charge so much?
A lot of what you are paying for, at higher priced cleaners, is convenience. If a dry cleaner has to open a drop store near your home or operate numerous delivery vehicles, they have added overhead to provide a convenient service. There are also those cleaners that spend more detail in packaging and presentation than others. They may buy hangers with their business logo on them, custom printed bags given away for free, tissues stuffed in the sleeves of jackets, etc...For the most part, these cleaners are not ripping their customers off; they are just charging a fair price to earn a fair profit for the added convenience they provide. There are also the high-end cleaners that do specialty items requiring sigificantly more time to process.
These cleaners typically attract the customers looking for more convenience than value.
Price will only get us so far though. We need repeat business to grow our business to a profitable volume. (No volume, no profit) If we do not put out a quality product our customers will not find our cheaper prices more valuable than a good product at a higher price, and they will eventually go somewhere else.

What chemical do you use?
We use, and have used for 13 years, Perc. The dry cleaning industry has made great strides in developing “green” solvents, with only one proven to clean as aggressively as Perc. This new solvent, Drysolv, has shown awesome potential, but is still very expensive and new to the market. We are keeping tabs on the stores currently using Drysolv and once we feel it makes sense to move to this solvent or any other solvent claiming to be "green", we will make the investment and switch over. In the mean time, you'll notice your clothes do not come back to you smelling like chemical. Our extra processes reclaim the vapors and keep them out of your clothes.
Some cleaners use “hydro-carbon” instead of Perc. Hydro carbon has shown be to be a less harmful chemical than Perc, but cleaning in that petroleum based solvent typically takes twice as long with half the cleaning capacity. It’s a known fact that Perc cleans the best out of all the typical dry cleaning solvents, and until we find an alternative, we will continue to use the best chemical to get your clothes clean in machines designed to remove 99.99% of perc residual.
One of the most popular new (within the last decade) enviro-friendly solvents is called GreenEarth. GreenEarth solvent has really proven itself to be a true "green" alternative to Hydrocarbo and Perc; however, this solvent’s cleaning properties are not as aggressive as perc and a typical clean cycle takes around 65 minutes. This product is definitely "green", but not cost effective enough for us to use in a small, high volume plant trying to work on a 30 minute per load system. GreenEarth is however, a great solvent for both the customers and owners of higher priced, full service dry cleaners.

Since you use Perc, have you taken any precautions to protect the environment?
Yes. When we purchased the dry cleaning machines, we purchased an additional option that adds a step at the end of the cleaning cycle to remove vapors and leave the clothes as fresh as possible. You’ll also notice all of our equipment sits on top of a Dupont Epoxy coating and an additional catch pan in our store. This special “true” epoxy coating protects the ground/water table from being contaminated if a spill occurs. Our first store, in Orlando, was opened in 1996. From 1996 to 2006 the property below our store was tested for contamination on three occasions. We never contaminated the ground in that store and have built this Melbourne store to even higher standards. With over $400k invested into this store, it makes sense to take the extra steps necessary to protect both the store and the environment.
The environment and public safety were a major concern of ours, as well as the West Melbourne City Council. Several meetings were held with the City Zoning & Planning Board as well as the City Council and Mayor. After presenting the City with our plans for preservation and protection, we were unanimously approved to go ahead with the building of our facility. Quite a few of the councilmen and women have visited our store and were very pleased to see we delivered as promised. In fact, most of them are now our customers.

Are there items you do not clean?
Although the solvent we use is still considered the best for dry cleaning clothes, it’s not safe for certain garments or leather. Please read your care labels. If they say “dry clean” or “dry clean only”, they should be safe for us to clean. If they ask for the garment to be cleaned in a “petroleum” based solvent, then they will need to be cleaned by a dry cleaners that uses hydro-carbon. There are two dry cleaners in the Brevard County area that use hydro-carbon and I can safely say that they both have a great reputation for garment care. Take these garments to either Crest Cleaners or Drop N Go Cleaners. Both of these companies use the same high quality European soaps and spotting chemicals that we use, as well as hold themselves to higher industry standards than most dry cleaners.

Palm Bay - Drop N Go Cleaners 321-676-1760
Suntree/Vierra - Crest Cleaners 321-253-3305

Do I need a claim ticket to pick up my clothes?
It helps, but we will also give clothes back with the presentation and recording of a driver’s license. Your ticket or driver’s license are the only two acceptable methods of picking up an order. This policy is in place to insure accountability for your property. The cleaners that allow their customers to pick up without recording the driver’s license, if no claim ticket is available, are only doing a disservice to their customers as well as their own business’s liability.

What if I think I'm missing something from my order?
There are several checks and balances through out our process; however, it's the customer's responsibility to check their clothes before leaving the store. This rule should apply anywhere you leave your clothes for care. If there's a discrepancy in your order, the best possible solution is to bring it to our attention immediately. We can track the garment by its tag number we attached prior to cleaning, so please leave all tags and tickets on your order. Once you leave the store you release us from liability, so please check your order prior to leaving. This helps us facilitate better service and accountability to you, the customer.
The biggest culprit to missing clothes is customers dropping clothes in our parking lot or on the floor in front of our counters. Any clothes found outside or in our store are processed and then marked as "found outside". We keep these clothes for several months before donating them to charities, so feel free to ask us about our "I.D." pieces, if you think you might be missing something.

Why do you write down the driver’s license number?
By law, we are liable for the property left in our store. Just a signature will not legally hold up in a court of law. It’s a little more time consuming than just handing clothes back to those requesting it; however, it’s the best way to insure our customer’s property is protected.

What if I’m not happy with the cleaning and/or pressing quality?
It’s our policy to always redo any garment at no charge. Some items may require your permission to redo as continued scrubbing or spotting may cause color loss. We typically do what we can up to the point of damaging the fabric and then leave any further work up to the customer.

I heard that you clean clothes for other higher priced cleaners.
To date, a total of 7 local cleaners have used us at some point to process their clothes. Sometimes when other cleaners have equipment issues, they do what they can to get their customer's clothes done as promised and we seem to be one of the few cleaners that can accommodate them in a crisis.
We also have full price cleaners, from as far away as Cocoa Beach, using us to process their clothes on a daily basis. If we can keep their customers happy, I'm sure we can make you happy.

Do you wash any of the clothes I bring in?
The term washing, to most dry cleaners, means to clean in water. The only clothes that we technically "wash" are the men's dress shirts, and these are processed off site. We do not have any washing machines on site.
Any garments that we take in for dry cleaning will be dry cleaned unless we reject them. Understand that quite a few full-price cleaners will charge you the higher dry cleaning prices, but actually wash your clothes in water. Although the label may say “washable” you should get the care you are paying for. If you have taken clothes to other cleaners, asked to have them dry cleaned, and get them back with shrinkage and/or color fade, they may have been washed in water instead. Dry cleaning jeans and black garments is typically the best method of preserving the quality, color and strength of the material.
Although dry cleaning is great at preserving fabric color and integrity, it's not always the best method for cleaning water soluble stains. If our efforts fail to remove a stain, we may suggest washing the stained garment in water.

Do you plan on opening any other locations in Brevard?
At this time, it wouldn’t make sense to create more overhead to receive the business we already get from areas like VeroBeach, Vierra, Rockledge, Palm Bay, etc…
Our prices, get you to come to us, so we do not have to spend the money for a storefront and employees in your immediate area. The more overhead we have, the more we have to charge.

How long will you keep your price at $2.25 per garment?
As long as possible. Our first store opened in Orlando in 1996 at $1.50 per garment. We stayed at $1.50 for 7 years. We went to $1.75 starting in 2004 and to $2.25 in Feb of 2008. At this time, it’s reasonable to expect us to remain at $2.25 for several years.
If we keep raising our prices every six months, we will go out of business, it’s that simple.

Are you a franchise?
No. This store was designed and built buy the owner Scott Saxton. Scott has owned and operated dry cleaning plants since 1996 and has developed his own method of running this type of discount cleaners. Although in some cases, franchises can be very helpful to those needing assistance and/or brand recognition, Scott’s knowledge of this industry is extensive enough to not need the help of a franchise.

What if I wanted to own a $2.25 cleaners?
Scott has been a consultant for numerous people building one-price dry cleaners. He can manage every aspect of the process from finding a location, negotiating a lease, designing the store’s layout, supervising the build out and installation process, to teaching you everything you need to know about this type of business. To build a store similar to Scott’s store in West Melbourne, you will be looking at an investment of no less than $425k. There are a few steps that can be taken to reduce the initial costs, but using $425k is realistic, for a brand new store with all new equipment. Please be weary of people that make unrealistic claims and are not upfront and forward with their track record. There are other people that claim to build “turnkey” stores for much less, but do not deliver as promised. Often these people will offer little to no hands-on training either, so you are left to fend for yourself. A great location is worthless without knowledge and with such a large investment; it only makes sense to invest into learning the correct way to run this type of dry cleaners.
Like any other business venture, you should do your homework when deciding on a person or company to build your business. Always work with someone that will give you the tools needed to succeed, not just a store and the key to open it.