Business in Fulton has kept its name and its same location since its founding a century ago
By Stefan Yablonski
Ontario Cleaners was nuclear powered.
“During COVID, what saved us is we have a contract with the nuclear power plants in Scriba. So their big company saved my little company,” explained owner Jeanne McManus. “Because in the days of no court, no weddings, no people leaving their houses — we were still busy due to the nuclear power plant, doing their uniforms.”
She has owned the dry cleaning business for 11 years. It’s located on 312 Seneca St., Fulton.
“This year is our 100th anniversary of it being Ontario Cleaners in this building,” she added. “I’m the fourth owner of the business.”
McManus mother did a research at the Fulton Historical Society to figure out the month the business was started. “But she was only able to find just the year,” McManus said.
They are planning to have a block party later this year to celebrate the milestone.
Almost every other dry cleaner in Oswego County has gone out of business. Just one other dry cleaner remains.
Karpinski’s closed in Oswego, Broadway Cleaners closed in Fulton. There are only two dry cleaners left in the county. The other is in Pulaski, Walker’s Cleaners & Tuxedos.
Dry cleaning is a process that uses chemicals to clean clothes that cannot be put into water.
“I feel we have a great customer base and we have a lot of regulars that when they don’t come in, we are like ‘where are they?’” McManus said. “I think that what helps us is we have a good working relationship with the community. We get really close with all the customers and know what they want. There are more people from Oswego than Fulton that come here actually. I go to the nuclear power plant every day — units one and two (FitzPatrick has a different contract) — to pick up and drop off. That’s part of my job. We’ve had that contract like forever.”
McManus owns the building. The dry cleaning business is on the ground floor; there is an apartment upstairs.
The building is massive. People are shocked at how big it is. It just looks like a little house from the road, she said.
“It use to be Ontario Star Cleaners the original owner was Jewish. I bought the business 11 years ago and it was a good fit because previous to that I was a dental hygienist. So cleaning teeth, cleaning clothes, it was just a good fit. I worked in Oswego,” she said.
“My friend was the real estate agent on this and she kept asking me, ‘why don’t you buy a dry cleaner?’ I came up and visited it and I loved it!” she said. “It was very crooked and old up here. My husband is an engineer. He came up and he loved it.”
When she took over, her brother helped clean out the original dry cleaning machines and materials.
“There was a big mess; they still used pulleys. We took it all out because it was full of chemicals from 100 years ago,” she said.
They had a contractor come in and restore one part of the building so it could be used for folding and storage and all that.
“Honestly, I’d say 90% of our business is just cleaning and washing clothes,” she said. “People buy something at a store and they want to have it [cleaned] first.”
They can clean just about anything and are always up for a challenge, she added.
They also do alterations.
Busy Fridays
Friday has always traditionally been their busiest day. They do mostly shirts and suits.
“Right now we do a lot of prom dresses. During the holidays we get holiday clothes and we get cruise clothes when people go on vacation, summer wedding season and then fall clothes,” she said. “We have a contract at SUNY Oswego with Auxiliary Services so we do all their stuff. We have a good working relationship with Oswego Police Department. We do all their uniforms, keep them up to date and do any alterations. And we also do Fulton PD cleaning. So it is constant. There is never a down time. There is always something to do.”
A certified women-owned business, McManus is assisted by Candace Comstock and Sue Dawson.
“We’re very tiny, it’s all female,” she said. “We are also very proud to have a student from CiTi BOCES for the past 10 years. We’ve had several over the years. That’s the best part of my day when our student comes in. The students have challenges, so they are not in mainstream school. They come here and we had such a great experience. We had a contract with a hotel to do linens and the student loved doing sheets and towels. And so when she graduated — she aced out of the program — she went on to actually work for a hotel. We have a student now that’s amazing. She enjoys doing it. It is just a great positive experience for both of us.”
