A neighbourhood cleaner on Loring Ave

Jay's Cleaners is an independent, locally run dry cleaner at 600 Loring Ave in Swampscott. Customers come to us from Swampscott, Marblehead and Salem, and from Lynn, Beverly and Peabody, because they get the same people at the counter every visit and their garments are handled here rather than shipped off somewhere.

Everyday work — shirts, suits, dresses, wash and fold laundry — is the backbone of what we do. But what people really travel to us for is the difficult work: a leather jacket, a suede coat, a fur-trimmed Canada Goose parka, a wedding gown after the reception, a pair of salt-stained UGGs after a New England winter. Those pieces need judgement, not just a machine cycle.

Our approach is simple. Every item is looked at before it is cleaned. If something cannot be fully saved, you hear that at drop-off rather than at pickup. If a garment would do better laundered than dry cleaned, we will say so even though dry cleaning costs more. That is why customers keep coming back and sending their neighbours.