Seccombe’s Cleaners Closes After 83 Years In Business

Friday, Sept. 30, marked the end of the road for Seccombe’s Cleaners which closed its doors at 1 Holbrook St. in Ansonia after having been in business since 1928.

To put that in perspective, the business opened during a time of silent movies, alcohol Prohibition and Dixieland jazz, and is closed during a time of home digital movie downloads, micro brew and computerized synthesizer dance beats.

“It’s time to say goodbye,” said Ed Lane, 76, one of four co-owners of the longtime family business.

Lane’s partners are his wife, Laura, 73, who is a retired Ansonia teacher, and Laura’s brother, Donald Seccombe, 83, and Donald’s wife Fern, 85.

Ask them why they decided to close their longtime business now and they give an easy answer.

“The ages are one thing,” Laura said. ​“Everybody is tired.”

Seccombe’s cleaners is a business that goes back to a veritable golden age in Ansonia. The city was once home to a number of manufacturing companies that employed many local families. The cleaning business thrived then, Seccombe said.

“We were a factory town and one time, when Farrell’s and American Brass were booming, we were booming. At one time I had seven people working in here. We had two trucks delivering to the Valley,” he said, recalling those years of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, even into the 1970s.

But the factories dwindled and slipped away, like they did in most other northeastern American mill cities.

“It fell apart,” Seccombe said.

The cleaning business did well in decades past because people were working and they dressed up more. They dressed to the hilt for their jobs, Seccombe said.

“Believe it or not men went to work in suits,” Seccome said.

Lionel and Stewart Seccombe, brothers, opened the cleaners in 1928 in the basement of Seccombe’s Men’s Shop on Main Street downtown. 

In 1946 the Seccombe brothers relocated to the Holbrook Street location.

They converted and expanded upon a former blacksmith shop that had been there.

It was off the beaten path, but customers found their way there and always returned. There was a strong sense of loyalty and customers came from around the Valley and beyond. The business did very little advertising because it drew plenty of customers just by word-of-mouth.

And they treated their customers well.

“We have wonderful loyal customers, and they’ve just been like part of the family,” said Laura Lane. ​“They come in and share their joys and happiness, and ask for prayers when they’re sick. It’s really family. We’ll miss it.”

The partners, who took over from the original owners in 1966, were growing older and the decades-old cleaning equipment was beginning to break down. They knew they were not going to reinvest in new equipment. 

They also had trouble selling the business, because of the modern environmental concerns over the chemicals used in the dry cleaning process. Environmental remediation has been ongoing at the business for several years and is still not complete.

But that is not the only reason the business is closing its doors.

“The other thing that put me out of business is the price of oil. Our boiler uses oil to produce 90 pounds of steam for our pressers. And the price of the cleaning fluid is high, it’s $26 a gallon,” said Ed Lane.

Business went along pretty well, all things considered, up until the recession of 2008, Lane said. Then there was a falloff in the number of customers. It hasn’t picked up to its former levels since that time. He blames it on more people unemployed.

The cleaners is not alone. Many companies are feeling the pain of the national recession, said Bill Purcell, president of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Purcell was told of the dry cleaner going out of business.

“It’s still very tough on Main Street,” Purcell said of the recession’s impact on American small business, and small business in the Valley, in particular.

But he believes the Valley is still fundamentally strong.

“The Valley is a viable place, a changing place. The service industry has been on the rise. We’ve moved from traditional manufacturing to high-tech manufacturing, and also precision manufacturing,” Purcell said.

That may be so, but the future Purcell speaks of will not include Seccombe’s dry cleaners. The partners have no idea what will become of the building next.

They stopped taking in dry cleaning in August. In the last few weeks of their existence they just pressed clothing for loyal customers. One customer brought in what appeared to be a 1950s-era vintage bowling shirt and they pressed it. It was hanging on a rack.

The customer was going to pick it up before Friday, and it would mark the last time that customer, whoever it was, would see the place.

“It’s the people I’ll miss,” Laura Lane said.