Emerald Cleaners

Called several time and no their number has been disconnected.

I moved to the Journal Square area in Jersey City from Manhattan about 2 years ago for the affordability and accessibility to NYC (Jersey City is often called the 6^th borough of NYC). The area is a little drab, but is changing. Seeing more young professionals move into the area and businesses need to adapt to meet the demands or close their doors. Emerald Cleaners is one of the businesses I predict will be around for awhile. They provide reliable, fast and courteous service with a personal touch. The owner is personable and wonderful to chat with and is willing to address any issue you may have. I highly recommend them so if in the area or within a reasonable distance by car, use them. I’m lucky to be within walking distance which makes me happy;)

I really wanted to like Emerald Cleaners, because it’s been in business in my neighborhood forever, and I like that it’s on-​premises cleaning, that they recycle hangers, that there’s a parking lot, and that it’s kind of a «Mom’n’Pop» place.
But I don’t like it, and I feel obliged to share the reasons why with the Unilocal world just for the sake of clear information on the internet.
I’ve gone there four times. And every time, I was given the subtle message that I was somehow «wrong.»
First, I put my clothes on the wrong counter. Nobody else was there, so I just came in and stood at the counter near the door. The employee (or proprietress?) who came to help me sort of frowned at me, as though I had inconvenienced her, and told me, none too graciously, to bring my clothes to the OTHER counter.
I didn’t mind moving the clothes. But I did mind the implication that I was somehow deliberately breaking the rules, especially as I had never set foot in the place before and there was no sign that said, «CLOTHES TO THIS COUNTER» or anything.
Second, aware that they offer daily specials– discounts on certain garments for each day of the week, I wanted to take my shirts there on the day that shirts were discounted. I looked on their website to see what the requirements were, but the info, which appears to be a scanned flyer, had microscopic font. I thought it said «2 shirt minimum» but when I got there, I discovered it was a 3 shirt minimum. To their credit, the employee (a different one who was actually pleasant) gave me the special price anyway because she recognized me as a new customer. But I think it’s pretty silly to have a complicated system of daily specials on garments, and then not CLEARLY show the specifics on their website.
Then, when I took in hangers to recycle, I removed the paper that covers them. The frowny-​employee (or proprietress) from the first time scolded me, frowning again and saying, «You leave the paper ON» with a tone implying that I was an idiot for thinking otherwise, even though none of the hangers already left for recycling had any paper on them.
So that’s three times I went in, and three times I was made to feel like I’d done something the wrong way.
I also went in at 4 pm (they close at 7) to ask for a suit to be pressed. The frowny-​employee told me that they were finished cleaning for the day, so nobody could press the suit for me. (There were still people in the back.) I’d just learned I had a job interview the next morning, and was caught somewhat unprepared clothes-​wise. She seemed utterly unconcerned. Now, I didn’t necessarily feel entitled to them bending over backwards to accommodate me. Maybe there’s a complicated system of shutting things down. But I did feel like if you’re open til 7 and someone comes in at 4, you shouldn’t make them feel like they were asking something really extraordinary to press a suit. She might have, say, seemed the least bit concerned, rather than implying non-​verbally that I was trying to get away with something, or that it was unreasonable to assume that, at 4pm, three hours before closing time, they might be able to help me. But she did imply, nonverbally, that I was being unreasonable, even after I explained that I was in a bind about the unexpected job interview the next morning. She did suggest that I leave the suit to be pressed Thinking out loud, I said, «Well, I have to be in Manhattan at 9, so if you open at 7, maybe I could pick it up about 7:30 – » but she interrupted me, as though I had affronted her, to tell me that there were other clothes ahead of mine, so I wouldn’t even be able to pick it up the next day, let alone at 7:30 in the morning.
Mind you, I wasn’t insisting they press my suit; I wasn’t storming or making demands. I was just trying to solve a problem I had regarding clothes, and silly me, I thought my dry cleaner might take an interest in helping me solve that problem.
Four visits, four times I left feeling like I was doing something «wrong.»
But the thing that clinched my writing this review was that, in decades of having clothes dry cleaned, I have never before encounter a batch of clothes REEKING of dry cleaning fluid. If you haven’t smelled it— it is not a pleasant smell. I wore my favorite jacket anyway, and even at the second wearing, I could still smell it. And the shirts were not particularly well pressed. Even if going there was a pleasant experience, even if they had pressed my suit or apologized that they could not, I would still have been sadly disappointed in the quality of the actual cleaning.
So as I said, I feel obliged to give a head’s up to the Unilocal community that Emerald Cleaners is a place that I not only cannot endorse, but that I encourage people to avoid.
I am giving it 2 stars instead of 1 because of the hanger recycling and the parking. But I think you might be happier if you don’t go there at all.