Province's last leather dry cleaner can't be 'suede' to stay open

B.C.'s only leather and suede dry cleaner is going to close its doors for good in the new year.

Ace of Suedes has been in business on Venables Street and Commercial Drive since the '70s, when there was high demand to have those materials cleaned.

"Leather cleaning is a separate process," said Frank Wagner, president of B.C. Fabricare.

"[It has to be] treated much different than fabrics. There was a need to differentiate from a regular dry cleaner."

Drop in demand

Wagner said the need to have leather, suede or fur professionally cleaned has plummeted dramatically over the years.

"It is kind of a fact that leather is a non-sustainable cleaning business at this time," he said.

Wagner said costs for running the Vancouver dry cleaning business rose while other countries starting selling the materials for cheap — meaning more people bought new clothes instead of maintaining their old ones.

"Leather gets imported from other countries in the world [where] labour costs are much less, materials cost less — it's all lower quality," said Wagner.

"So, we are basically left having to charge the customer as much as it costs for a new jacket. An average leather jacket costs about $100 for dry cleaning."

Wagner says British Columbians who want to get their leather or suede dry cleaned will have to ship the items to businesses in Calgary or Toronto once the Vancouver business closes down.

Property sold to developer

Wagner said Ace of Suedes' owners, brothers Ed and Michael Rigby, have sold their property to a developer.

"I would think [the developer] would demolish the place and then put residential buildings up," said Wagner.

The business' website said the last day of business was Dec. 23, but Wagner said it's still open since the developer has delayed plans to demolish the building.

The dry cleaner is now running on month-to-month lease, but is expected to close its doors for good some time in 2017.