There is one less dry cleaner and laundry service in the core towns of the Upper Valley. One less also means there is only one remaining.
Roger’s Fabricare in Windsor, which provided pickup and drop-off service at the River Valley Club in Lebanon and Carpet King & Tile Carpet in Norwich, has ceased operations, owner Roger Mathews said.
Roger’s Fabricare closing means that Lebanon-based Kleen is the sole remaining dry cleaner and launderer serving the general public in the greater Upper Valley.
Mathews, who took over the business in 2013 when it was known as JB Fabricare, said he decided to cease operations because of “disrepair of the building” in which he operated and “to alleviate the stress in my life and bring my health in better circumstances.”
On top of problems with the building, Mathews said his aging equipment needed replacing, a costly proposal that would have been difficult to justify financially.
Mathews, a resident of West Windsor, said the business was “making a profit — not a large profit, but covering expenses and that kind of stuff. You’re not necessarily in it to make a lot of money.”
Mathews said after taking a “small vacation with my family” he plans to “return myself to the workforce in the beginning of the year.”
Old Navy Still ComingTo Lebanon
What’s become of the Old Navy store that was announced to open in the Upper Valley Plaza in West Lebanon?
In August, Old Navy, owned by San Francisco-based Gap Inc., advertised on online job boards that it was seeking to hire workers at a new Old Navy store in Lebanon.
Then in October an Old Navy sign appeared on the plaza’s marquee along Route 12A. But a few days later the sign was reversed, so the words “Old Navy” appeared to be written backward. Then the sign disappeared altogether, and a blank white space now appears where the sign had been affixed.
But, despite the suggestion by the sign’s disappearance that Old Navy may have changed its mind, it looks as though the budget clothing store still is going into shopping plaza.
WS Development, the Massachusetts-based owner of Upper Valley Plaza, filed a building permit application with the city in November outlining a $150,000 “interior alteration” to accommodate an Old Navy store that will occupy the vacant retail space adjacent to the recently opened HomeGoods store, according to paperwork on file with Lebanon’s planning office.
WS Development and a spokeswoman for Old Navy did not respond to requests for comment.
TLC Family Resource Center Receives Grant
Claremont’s TLC Family Resource Center, a nonprofit that organizes support groups and education programs for families and children in Sullivan and lower Grafton Counties, announced it has received a $5,000 grant from The Rite Aid Foundation.
The grant will be “used to help make it possible for us to support our parent educators who work with families throughout” the nonprofit’s service area, TLC Executive Director Maggie Monroe-Cassel said in a news release.
She added that TLC’s Parent Education Programs have “a significant impact on families, helping them stay together and become more resilient.”
Enfield’s Lapan’s Insurance Has New Home
Lapan’s Insurance Agency in Enfield has moved its office 1 mile east and now is located in the Town Center Park building at 502 Route 4, Unit 2, Enfield, adjacent to the Crystal Moon bead store.
News items of interest to the local business community are published in the Business & Money section of the Sunday Valley News. Submissions may be sent by email to: biznotes@vnews.com (high-resolution photographs may be attached in .jpg format). Items are edited for clarity and space.
