Hampden Dry Cleaner Faces Trying Times

UPDATED (4:56 p.m. Wednesday)—Things are pretty tough right now for in Hampden.

The dry cleaner, named a "Best in Baltimore" in three of the last five years, has been operating without a boiler, which means the store has to send its dry cleaning to other cleaners. And because there is no heat, it makes for chilly fitting sessions when customers come in for alterations.

On Tuesday, owner Thuy (pronounced "Twee") Pham, and an employee helped customers while wearing jackets with portable heaters turned on. Pham, originally from Vietnam, explained that when the weather is warm, as it was Tuesday, conditions are tolerable, but that things are more difficult when the weather isn't as nice. 

To make matters worse for Pham, she was recently told by Baltimore Gas and Electric that it would be unable to install a larger gas pipe needed for the replacement boiler until March.

“I don’t know how long I can handle (operating the business) if it takes too long,” Pham.

Pham's boiler had been replaced in June but stopped working on Nov. 30 when as the shop owner described it, the boiler "exploded". Although the boiler is under warranty, the replacement requires a larger gas line to be run to the building to accommodate the new equipment.

Pham said she was initially told it would take six to eight weeks for BGE to get the permit from the city to do the work. But this week she was informed it would be March before the line can be installed.

This leaves Pham, who has continued to pay her four employees, in a tight situation and unsure of the future for the dry cleaner the City Paper has named “Best of Baltimore” in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

Linda Foy, a BGE spokeswoman, explained her company's side of the problem in an email to Patch.

"We received the request from the customer on January 4 and have been working with the customer to complete the job. We expect the design for the new equipment to be completed this week but cannot begin the process of installing the new equipment until the customer addresses several matters and we receive a permit from the City to allow us to dig underground.  

We have requested the permit but typically it takes 4-6 weeks for permits to be granted. This is standard for this type of work and the customer was informed of this process when the request came in.  BGE is also waiting to receive certain necessary information from the customer – including an executed contract and approval of the preliminary routing for the new gas piping. We will reach out to the customer again to ensure he is aware of this process."

Pham said so far the store’s customers have remained loyal despite the problems.

“The customers are supportive. They still bring stuff in,” Pham said.

Ben Malmin, a customer, was walking by the store on Tuesday afternoon with his son. He said Pham and her employees were among the first people in Hampden his family got to know after moving to Baltimore from Portland, Ore., more than a year ago. 

“We really got to know them when we moved because they give the kids lollipops,” Malmin said.

Malmin, 37, said he and his wife are customers, and that Sanitate does good work and that he feels the storeowners are “victims” in this case.