Country Cleaners Re-Opens After Fire

More than eight months after a fire shut down Country Cleaners in the East Penn Plaza, New Country Cleaners emerged this morning for a grand re-opening.

Owner Young Joo Chung said the store is better than ever.

Chung completely renovated the site, bringing state-of-the art equipment that is more energy efficient and green. He says the new machines use organic detergents, which are better for clothes and the environment.

New Country Cleaners has collection sites in Macungie and Schnecksville, but the Emmaus site was where all the cleaning was done. After the fire, Chung had to outsource most of the work.

The renovated site at 1325 Chestnut St. will open to customers April 1.

The re-opening was good news to Gene Clock, the former president of the Emmaus Main Street Program and of Iobst Travel. He is such a loyal customer, he said, he’s been driving his dry cleaning over to Chung’s Macungie store during the renovations.

Clock was on hand Friday for the ribbon cutting, as was Lee Ann Gilbert, president of Borough Council, who said she is also a loyal Country Cleaners customer.

Teryl Madison, executive director of the Emmaus Main Street Program, brought the red ribbon and the scissors to celebrate the opening at about 10 a.m.

One of the store’s distributors sent Chung a small decorative tree as a sign of prosperity for the opening; written in Korean, a ribbon on the tree reads: “Make lots of money.”

But during a quick tour of the store, Chung was focused more on quality. He said the new machines, such as the shirt presses, are designed to handle about 120 shirts an hour. But at that rate, he said, the quality isn’t very good.

Instead, he has two people work the machine at a rate of about 45 shirts an hour to make sure every crease is sharp and straight.

New Country Cleaners offers home pickup and delivery, alterations and, of course, dry cleaning.