Tim Koeller was not planning on closing Platteville Cleaners and exiting the dry cleaning business.
A leaking boiler in Platteville Cleaners’ building at 250 W. Main St. Sept. 11 made that decision for Koeller.
“It’s just what I know,” said Koeller, who said repairing the boiler didn’t make financial sense given diminishing business. “I didn’t know how to do anything else.”
Platteville Cleaners’ closing doesn’t just end a three-generation run in the dry cleaning business. It also closed the only Southwest Wisconsin-based dry cleaning business, which served customers in Lancaster and Mineral Point by pickup.
Koeller’s grandfather owned Koeller Cleaners in Lancaster. Koeller’s father worked for a dry cleaner that used the Martinizing cleaning process, working in Milwaukee before going to Monroe.
“When I was a kid growing up it was ‘get your butt to the cleaners, we need your help,’” he said. “That is all I’ve known since I was 10 years old.”
Koeller opened Platteville Cleaners when he had “an opportunity when I was 18 years old” in 1984.
The strangest thing Koeller had to deal with in his 39 years was a pickup truck that drove into the building on an early Sunday morning in January 2013, resulting in damage to the front window and west-side wall, as well as a machine inside the building.
“I heard my phone about 20 to 5 in the morning,” Koeller told The Journal in 2013. “You never know what it’s about when your phone’s ringing that time of day. They left a message to call the Platteville Police Department, and you don’t know what’s going on.”
The pickup truck was discovered by Platteville police by following a debris trail from the building. The 19-year-old driver was cited for failure to notify police of an accident, underage operation of a motor vehicle without absolute sobriety, hit-and-run causing injury, and underage drinking. A passenger suffered facial injuries.
Koeller removed 3,740 pounds of debris, and the business was open the following Monday.
Koeller told The Journal he had “no plans to make it a drive-through cleaners.”
The closing of the business also means the end of employment of Koeller’s assistant, Deb Custer, who worked there for 22 years.
One of Koeller’s more unusual services was cleaning the costumes of mascots for such businesses as Culver’s and such organizations as the Platteville Main Street Program and Platteville High School, owner of Henry Hillmen. Cleaning a mascot costume requires “a lot of hand cleaning,” he said.
Customers came into the business all week — “a lot of hugs by long-time customers,” said Koeller. He in turn thanked his customers for their years of business.
Artistic Cleaners in Dubuque has agreed to pick up clothing for cleaning at Platteville Cleaners for the time being and possibly another Platteville location later. That will mean a two- or three-day turnaround time instead of the same-day turnaround Koeller provided in case of apparel emergencies.
As for Koeller, “I’ll have to find a job, a new career. I have no idea what it’s going to be. But it’ll all work out.”
