SAN ANTONIO – Customers were caught by surprise Monday when they saw the sign on the door saying Eldorado Cleaners in the 9000 block of Marbach Road was no longer in business.
“It’s frustrating,” said Larissa Galenes, who’d using Eldorado for the past few years after she found it was getting favorable reviews on Yelp!
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Galenes said, “My comforter is not necessary to me. I feel worse for the people who have clothes in there.”
She said she’d met a Lackland airman whose uniforms were among the hundreds of items on hangers visible through the windows and locked doors.
Then there was Metusera Hakizinana who had dropped off all his clothing because he was going out of town.
He said when he called owner Doug Blevins, “He told me 'I’m busy. I cannot help you.'”
Since then, another update has been posted on the door, saying Hannah’s Cleaners and Alterations in the 7300 block of Marbach Road, about a half-mile away, would distribute the items beginning at noon Saturday, but a receipt from Eldorado is required.
Blevins said by phone that he apologizes for the inconvenience caused by the abrupt closure, but it was due to last-minute efforts to renegotiate his lease in hopes he could stay in business.
But Sara Johnson, his leasing agent, said Blevins called her last week saying, “I’m closing my business.”
She said Blevins told her that he would not be paying the overdue rent.
Johnson said Blevins bought the nearly 20-year-old business in January, but apparently couldn’t make a go of it.
She said Blevins told her that he couldn’t maintain the outdated equipment.
He also told KSAT 12 News, “I lost my investment.”
Johnson said they tried to renegotiate the lease, but the landlord decided against it since Blevins had made it clear that he didn’t want to stay in the dry cleaning business.
But she said that both of them were able to find a way for his customers to pick up their clothing thanks to Hannah’s Cleaners coming to the rescue.