Walking into the newly opened Premier Dry Cleaning and Laundry service, located in the former Modern Cleaners building, customers are greeted by a friendly face and warm, homey dcor. Racks of neatly pressed garments are enclosed in plastic wait to be picked up. Industrial size washers and dryers are ready for the next day’s loads.

To the McClintock’s, dry cleaning is and has been a family business since the couple first took over Annette’s parents’ dry cleaning business in Fort Dodge sixteen years ago. Annette’s parents owned and operated the business for 20 years and were looking to sell it. Annette worked at her parents’ store for two years before she and her husband decided to purchase it.

The couple later moved locations in Fort Dodge. The original dry cleaners, L & D Dry Cleaning and Laundry is now Netties, a restaurant. Equipment was moved to what is now Premier Dry Cleaning and Laundry. The Premier location was previously Aladdin and before that, Brooks Laundry.

“We decided maybe we’d give that a shot and see. It’s working pretty good so far,” said Tim.

This is the fifth Premier Dry Cleaning and Laundry location in the state. All five locations are owned and operated by Tim and Annette McClintock. The couple have dry cleaning businesses in Fort Dodge, Algona, Mason City, Fairmount, Minnesota and as of Oct. 30, Webster City. There are 18 employees throughout the five stores.

Premier Dry Cleaning and Laundry offers commercial and residential laundering services. Each store specializes in dry cleaning, laundry, wedding dresses, some leathers, alterations, zippers, law enforcement patches and military patches, heavy starch jeans, bar towels and wet press. Joyce Toms, Tim’s mother, does all alterations for all five locations.

“We’re just hardworking people and trying to do the best we can for people. That makes us happy,” said Annette McClintock.

A new laundering machine was recently purchased. The new washing machine is a state of the art, earth-friendly piece of equipment, according to the owners. The couple hope to purchase a new machine designated specifically for t-shirts as well.

“It makes your clothes smell fresher, look brighter, last longer. So it’s a good deal,” said Tim.

A typical day starts at 5 a.m. The dry cleaning machine and boiler get turned on. Around 7 a.m. more employees come in to press and sort the clean laundry. Throughout the day, shirts are starched, pants are creased and formal wear is carefully cleaned.

“Most workers come in about seven so we have things that are clean and up and ready to be pressed and they get started and it’s just kind of a big assembly line. Shirt laundry goes one way, dry cleaning goes another way, commercial laundry is started,” said Tim.

Each item that is cleaned at one of the five locations is given a bar code. This code tells the care taker what type of shirt or garment they are dealing with, what is supposed to be used to launder it, if it needs starch or not, and when it was cleaned and put in a vehicle to be dropped-off. The bar code system has been in place for three years.

“What time it’s brought in and dropped-off, whether they want starch, light, heavy or medium, whether they want creases in their sleeves, it does everything. It tracks everything,” Tim said.

The McClintock’s are hoping to start a pick-up and delivery service in Webster City. Hy-Vee is also a pick-up/ drop-off location. Other pick-up and drop-off sites include: Shepfield, Clarion, Buffalo Center, Hampton, Osage, Northwood, Clear Lake, Brit, Algona, Bancroft, Forrest City, Garner, Fairmont, MN, Pocahontas, Emmetsburg, Rockwell City, Manson and Dowry. Tim has put a large amount of miles on the delivery vans since they were first purchased two years ago. One van has 100,000 miles on it, the other van that Tim drives has 125,000 miles already.

“I drive 565 miles twice a week and about 300 miles every other day of the week I guess,” Tim said.

The Webster City store is open everyday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will only be closed on holidays and in the case of inclement weather. The Webster City location is run by the McClintock’s daughter, Libbie.

“We’re just a hardworking family with a lot of great employees and that’s our biggest strive, I guess, to do a good service for people,” said Annette.

The McClintock’s son, Travis does dry cleaning for the business. Their other children, Cody and Samantha McClintock and Jessica work at the Fort Dodge location. One of the couple’s uncles drives for them. It truly is a family run business. The McClintock’s hope to pass their legacy onto their five children and six grandchildren someday.

“Well we’ve had to become more passionate because we’re the only ones around that are doing it,” Annette said, “The industry is just not like it used to be, so we just have to keep growing.”