Helen’s Cleaners & Tailor

Whatever you do, DO NOT get your clothes tailored here. Helen’s was supposed to shorten the sleeves on a nice winter jacket I purchased, and they butchered it. The sleeves are uneven, weirdly tapered and the workmanship is awful. I will never trust these guys with my alterations again.

Aweful! Absolutely the worst cleaners, and very expensive. They have ruined so many beautiful items of mine, that at this point I’m fed up and disgusted. I’m waiting for a check from her for a gorgeous silk pillow sham that was destroyed!!! She’s a money hungry, nasty woman.
I also found out if you go to her 16^th & Sansom location, everything is sent over to the south street plant to be cleaned, and brought back over to 16^th and Sansom without being protected by plastic. No wonder I’ve had items come back with more stains. Do yourself a favor, and stay far away.

I’m a guy. I’ve been a very satisfied customer of Helen’s. We are in our seventh year of doing business and being nice to each other. Helen’s has always delivered on the promise made by zillions of cleaners: Do the clothes come back clean, pressed and ready for another go at the real world? At Helen’s they have always delivered. I don’t expect miracles. Clothing is brand new only once. After that, life’s nicks and tears and spills show up and stick around. The Helen’s team delivers on time. They point out the effects of years of wear, and how they did their best. They are cheerful. They listen. They keep their promises. They can’t do miracles. Nobody can do miracles. What more can anyone want?
In re alterations. Again, I’m a guy. Make it longer; make it shorter; take it up; let it out. Again, it’s the basics that matter. If I need a tailor, I go to a tailor. People should have reasonable expectations. Paying in advance is just good business practice. Let’s face it: some customers are at best forgetful and at worst irresponsible. Cut your service providers some slack, people.
If you are the kind of customer that prefers over-​time relationships to one-​off emergency room services, you’ll like Helen’s

I rarely review businesses on Unilocal.The experience has to be exceptional or unbelievably horrendous in order to earn a review.
Unfortunately, in this case, I wish there was a way to give a 0 star rating or even negative stars.
I dropped off a not-​so-​expensive, well-​tailored suit along with some dress shirts for dry cleaning. While neither was ready when promised (2 day delay), they were apologetic about the delay. Things just progressively worsened from that point on.
The dark navy suit had bleachy/​splotchy white spots and the white dress shirts showed reddish smudges when I went back to pick them up. Understanding that stuff happens, I calmly asked for an explanation.
That’s when the lady behind the counter became extremely agitated insisting that there was nothing wrong with the clearly damaged clothing.
In order to avoid a scene and a confrontation, we agreed that I won’t be paying for this service. And I walked out — never to return again.
There are a couple of conscientious and honest dry cleaners in the area that I now use.
It’s a shame because had they simply acknowledged their mistake, I wouldn’t have made a big deal about it — it was a relatively inexpensive Italian cotton suit. But, with this experience, I urge you fellow consumers to please avoid this dry cleaner at all costs.

Got some pants hemmed here and the woman behind the counter was very nice and courteous. I’ve taken a few shirts here and one had a difficult to remove stain. While they weren’t able to get the whole thing out the first time, they apologized and got it the second time.
Have been using them regularly on account of the quality of service.

Went to Helen’s for some tailoring earlier this year, and they did a nice job hemming my new pants.
After that positive experience, I decided to start using them for regular dry cleaning. However, the cleaning services are really so-​so at best. Items returned with wrinkles, creases in odd places, and remaining dirt/​spots. Worst of all, they just damaged a nearly-​new cashmere sweater — even after I mentioned the delicate fabric. The fabric is pilling, and it looks like it went through the wash.
Great for tailoring, but not for regular dry cleaning services.

New to town and went to Helen’s because it is close to my apartment. The staff is so sweet and explained the cost of each piece. The prices are competitive for center city. There was a difficult client in front of me and the staff was very professional.

I’ve been here for three different services. Once, to fix some small beads and loose threads that fell off a dress. That cost $ 90.00. Another was for taking in the side of my cocktail dress. That was $ 30.00. I liked going here because it is near my job and the workers are nice.
Sadly, I will not be returning. Recently, I was there to get my dress hemmed for a wedding. The woman at the desk said that it would cost $ 60.00 and that I had to pay up front. Before, I didn’t have to pay until I picked up my items; and I’ve always picked up my items, at maximum, within a couple of days of them calling me. I told her this but she said it was necessary to collect immediately for hems. I paid and mentioned that it was for a wedding on Friday next week. This was Wednesday and she told me it would be ready the following Wednesday; perfect, I won’t be at work/​nearby on Friday (I had to catch a flight for the wedding) so anyday before would work.
Around noon on Wednesday, I got a call from the same woman and was expecting her to tell me my dress was ready, but instead, she asked how I wanted my dress hemmed. When I was at the cleaners, we already spoke about how I wanted the back hemmed short and the front hemmed shorter because that was the style of my dress. I told her to go ahead with it and she said it would be ready Thursday. On Thursday, Helen called and said the dress wasn’t ready because the man that did hemming got sick. That was a very poor excuse; not only was I promised the dress on Wednesday, they took my money and I was under the impression that they were working on it right away from yesterday’s call– the day I was originally told that it would be ready. I understand that I’m not their only customer and tailor man got sick but my dress should’ve been priority since they collected my money.
On Friday, I could no longer wait for them to call me. I rushed to Center City around noon to find my dress hanging sadly on the side without a plastic covering. The woman at the front told me that it was hemmed but not steamed and she would do it for me if I waited. I told her no and took my dress for my flight was leaving in 2 hours. It’s frustrating when you already have a dress in mind (along with shoes and accesories) and the day before you had to search for an alternative because you could possibly be left hanging by your once trusted cleaners.
Why wasn’t my dress steamed already Helen? You said Wednesday and you took my money already. By the way, my dress still drags at the bottom! Yes, I wore my dress with the same shoes I had on at the cleaners. Too bad I couldn’t try it on when I picked it up. I would have time if the dress was ready on Wednesday/​Thursday as promised. Going to a new cleaners. Good bye.

I’ve gone to this Helen’s Cleaners to get pants hemmed and my suits dry cleaned. The prices are low, the service is fast, and the results are perfect. The part that keeps me coming back is the upbeat and genuine care of the staff.
Store Hours
Mon-​Wed 7am-​6pm
Thur. 7am-​7pm
Fri. 7am-​6pm
Sat. 8am-​5pm