Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Tsawwassen Cleaners is believed to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, businesses in town.
Original owner Peter Hill arrived in Canada from England in the mid-1950s. He had trained as a dry cleaner in England and brought his trade with him to his new home, opening Tsawwassen Cleaners in 1963.
The store, which is located under the glass roof in Tsawwassen Shopping Centre, has always remained in its original location, with the strip mall springing up around it.
Little has changed about the way Tsawwassen Cleaners has done business over the years, says current owner Greg Hill, who started at the store at the age of 15 and took over from his father in 2011.
Tsawwassen Cleaners still offers full dry cleaning, laundry and alteration services, as well as a drivethru service in the alley behind Rona.
Although much has stayed the same over the years, the business did make a big change in 2006 when it went to a more environmentally friendly process of dry cleaning.
"That was a big deal for us," Hill said. "We were really masters of the old system."
The traditional system, which is still used by the majority of dry cleaners, uses a solvent that produces a toxic sludge that must be shipped off premises to be disposed of properly.
Hill said the new system, ipura, uses an eco-friendly solvent. He said they were concerned at first about how the changes would affect the finished product but right away they heard only positive feedback from customers.
Hill said customers liked the results of the new system, which also allows Tsawwassen Cleaners to clean leather and suede on site.
The move attracted quite a bit of attention in the industry, landing Tsawwassen Cleaners on the cover of Fabricare Canada in the fall of 2006.
