Taken to the cleaners and never returned

Jose Paul Corona

All Robin Sherwood wants is her clothes back.

The Huntington Beach resident dropped her clothes off at Beach

Valet Cleaners about a month ago and hasn’t been able to get them

back since.

It appears as though Beach Valet Cleaners, in a strip mall at

Pacific Coast Highway and Warner Avenue, has gone out of business.

It’s an unfortunate reality that small businesses don’t always

succeed, Sherwood said, and she understands that.

“I just want my stuff,” she said.

Sherwood has been going to the shop on and off for the past two

years, she said, and was surprised that it’s no longer in business.

Nothing seemed to indicate that the owners of the business were in

financial trouble, she said.

“The ironic thing is that they were really busy,” she added.

It seems the owners of the business called her and told her to

come and pick up her clothes but never mentioned that they were going

out of business, or indicated any urgency. Sherwood was in Las Vegas

at the time, and she told the owners that she would be in the next

day.

She arrived at the cleaners the next day and found the place

locked.

Unopened mail can be seen strewn across the floor through one of

the two glass doors. Notes left by customers litter the floor next to

the untouched mail.

While some clothing remains in the shop, it appears as though much

of it has been claimed.

Cleaning equipment sits idle in the store and is covered in dust.

A dirt-covered shirt is stretched out over an ironing board.

Neighboring businesses aren’t sure what may have happened to the

owners.

Alan Jackson, an attendant at the Fluff N’ Fold laundermat next

door, said he hasn’t been able to be much help to the customers

who’ve arrived wanting to retrieve their clothes.

Jackson said a Korean couple in their 30s purchased the business

in December. He thought they may have been relatives of the previous

owners, but neighboring business owners didn’t have a chance to get

to know the couple before they were gone, Jackson said.

While Sherwood’s experience may seem like a strange situation,

it’s unfortunately a pretty common occurrence, said Gary Almond,

general manager of the Southern California office of the Better

Business Bureau.

The best course of action for anyone who has a claim slip for

clothing in the shop is to try to contact the landlord of the

building, he said.

“The landlord may have some empathy [and let people] have their

stuff,” he said.

Sherwood certainly hopes so.

“I can see my stuff in there,” she said forlornly.