After 40 Years, Dave’s Econ-O-Wash Presses On

When Linda Johnson and her late husband purchased Dave’s Econ-O-Wash & Dry Cleaning 40 years ago, neither had prior experience in the industry.

“It took some time,” Johnson said. “We ruined some clothes and had to end up buying them. Not too many, but if you make a mistake you have to correct it somehow. So it was kind of fun learning. He ruined more clothes than I did, though.”

In addition to typical business attire, Johnson dry cleans uniforms for the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the Centralia Police Department and the Chehalis Police Department. 

Johnson said she recently replaced a number of patches on Lewis County Sheriff's Office uniforms previously worn by Grant County deputies.

“Grant County (has) two patches, so I had to remove all of them and put the sheriff patches on,” Johnson said. Then Johnson asked her associate, Trish Gadman, what else she does. “Name tags!” Johnson continued. “I’ve put them on, taken them off, whatever.”

Originally, Johnson didn’t want to purchase the business. She ran a daycare out of her home and her husband worked with her father laying carpet.

“I thought he was crazy,” Johnson said. “I said ‘There is no way we can afford to buy this. So just forget it.’ He just kept on. I finally got tired and said ‘Go talk to them.’”

Johnson and her husband bought the business in 1979. Ten years later, however, he passed away and Johnson has been the sole owner since 1989. Various employees have worked in the store over the years, but about 13 years ago, Johnson hired Gadman. 

“She’s a great boss — she really is,” Gadman said. “Best boss I’ve ever had. And I like that she is flexible. I like people and every day is different in here. Same old, same old — we do laundry — but we make it fun.”

When Johnson and her husband bought the business, she said, the previous owners only stayed on for two weeks to train them.

“We didn’t know a whole lot about dry cleaning, or spotting, or any of that,” Johnson said. “We would go to Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle and just pick everybody’s brain in (the) dry cleaning businesses. We had a guy in Olympia that owned a cleaner’s by the capitol and his daughter told us, ‘I don’t know, my folks have taken a liking to you two.’ So if we ever had any questions on what to do, or whatever, all we had to do was call.”

In 1990, Johnson purchased a giant machine for dry cleaning. She said it is the most impressive piece of equipment she knows how to operate in the shop.

“We used to do fun things,” Johnson said. “The high school used to bring a class here and we would go through and explain how the machine worked, and how you spot, and just kind of showed the whole class how we did things. A lot of them had no clue what dry cleaning entailed.”

Johnson said she has found many adults don’t know how dry cleaning works, either.

“They think ‘How do you clean something dry?’” Johnson said. “You don’t. It goes in the machine, they tumble, they get wet, you extract them and then you dry them. It’s all done at one time in the machine.”

Said Johnson, “It’s kind of second nature to me now.”

Dave’s Econ-O-Wash & Dry Cleaning will host a customer appreciation day from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. this Friday to celebrate Johnson’s 40 years in business. The event will have a laundry-bag giveaway, a $40 gift card drawing and refreshments.