Sud-Z Dry Cleaners permanently closes doors

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Sud-Z Dry Cleaners permanently closes doors
Sud-Z Dry Cleaners closed permanently last week. Courtesy | Thomas Curro

Sud-Z Dry Cleaners permanently closed on Oct. 31 after years of serving both students and the Hillsdale community.

Kelly Ledyard, an employee of Sud-Z since 2016, attributed the closure to the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictions. 

“We went on lockdown back in March,” Ledyard said. “Even though we were considered an essential business, we didn’t have the business.”

Ledyard added that an increasing number of customers working from home contributed to the slowing of business.

“You just don’t have all the stuff normally a dry cleaner would have,” she said. “Our business has been struggling and our boss has lost some major accounts.”

Jim Boyer, owner of Sud-Z Dry Cleaners since 2005, has more than 45 years of experience in the dry cleaning industry and said his business, including the branches in Coldwater and Battle Creek, faced a financial crisis. 

“From one of my biggest accounts, Kellogg’s, which is probably almost 60% of my business overall, I haven’t had one person in since March,” Boyer said. “The Federal Center only has 5-10% of its people back to work in the buildings. Everybody is working from home and school teachers, to the Kellogg Foundation, it just hurt me too much.”

Like W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Firekeepers, Ledyard noted  Hillsdale College has historically been a source of revenue, but its reopening was unable to save the business. 

“It might have helped, but it was too little, too late,” Ledyard said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14.7% of Americans were unemployed in April 2020. Like many other Americans, Ledyard said she struggled to collect unemployment.

“There were a lot of people who filed for unemployment, and it took over 7 weeks to get it,” she said. “Think about how many people were online filing for unemployment at the same time.” 

Despite feeling sadness over Sud-Z’s closure, Ledyard looked back on the years she worked with pride and gratitude, praising Boyer as a “great guy” who goes “above and beyond” for his customers. “This takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” she said.

In light of Sud-Z’s experience, Ledyard warned that the rise of the internet and e-commerce posed dangers for other small businesses like Sud-Z, and people need to consider helping small businesses in the midst of a challenging pandemic. 

“Our world is changing and it’s never going to be the same because everyone is moving forward with technology,” she said. “People need to think about small businesses.”