The Governor General’s bill for $117,000 since 2018 for dry cleaning caused a lot of talk in Parliament on Monday, but what exactly does that amount mean?
• Also read: More than $117,000 for dry cleaning at the governor general’s office
The owner of Nettoyeur CSD, Denis Labbé, explains that he was surprised when he heard how high this amount was.
“It is certain that we as a dry cleaning company are still a little upset today when we hear that,” he says in an interview on the show at 8:30 p.m. Of course, I would have liked to have a company close to the lieutenant governor. We’re talking about $30 for a dress.”
However, he argues that the amount increases quickly as more items are added.
“It is certain that we have not dissected all the bills,” he continues. It’s still wide. Does this include bed linen and curtains? It is certain that for more opulent homes we can still be talking about thousands of dollars pretty quickly once we start touching all the rooms of the houses.
Mr. Labbé, who sometimes deals with public administrations, explains that their bills can average a few hundred dollars per cleaning.
“Depending on the items they bring, we can talk about an average of $150 to $300 per visit,” he says. But we have to understand that these are not recurring visits every week.”
The dry cleaning industry is going through a transition period as its machines need to adapt to new climate standards, which can be costly for some retailers.
“We have the feeling that there is a big change with the new environmental standards,” says the cleaner. All the old companies that had old machines that did not comply with the regulations are all companies that are doomed to disappear because of the cost of the machines, which are much higher to be able to comply with all the environmental standards.”
Although working from home means fewer clothes and outfits to clean, the increasing popularity of thrift stores is helping to offset lost sales.
“We will have a little more sales at the clothing modification level, with all the concepts like the Renaissance or the Village of Values, where people try to recover as much as possible.” We have a sewing factory that accounts for almost 50% of the turnover generated by textile cleaning.”
Watch the full interview in the video above