The locally-owned business, now owned by Brett and Lisa Worrell, is scheduled to move to Raglan Parade early next year to a site once occupied by Barbecues Galore.

For dry cleaner Mark Hadden, the move means a change of scenery after almost 35 years in the same iconic building.

“I’m excited about the move, it will be great to have more space, more parking for customers, an easier place to keep clean and an easier workflow,” he said. 

A dry cleaner for most of his adult life, Mr Hadden admits it was never an occupation we would have considered for himself, despite loving his job and the team he works with.

“I would never have thought I’d be a dry cleaner. I was working at a Port Fairy service station when my year 12 co-ordinator asked if I wanted a new job. That was on the Monday, I had an interview on the Tuesday and started on the Wednesday. 

If I hadn’t done this I’d probably be a mechanic, or a commercial fisherman.”

Mr Hadden, who was taught by Warrnambool dry cleaning stalwarts Charlie Lawrence and Mick O’Keefe, said he was regularly rewarded in his chosen career.

“It’s rewarding to help people out. You only see them when they have a problem but most of the time we can fix it, and that’s rewarding,” he said

“When Melbourne big dry cleaners can’t help and we can get stains out, that’s very satisfying, and I guess it’s because we treat each garment individually.”

Chewing gum, wax, oil stains and red wine are some of the challenges Mr Hadden faces each day.

“I’d like to tell people that old-fashioned remedies like soda water and salt just ain’t gonna get it out,” he said. “Just leave it and bring it in.”

Mr Hadden’s least favourite items to clean are curtains with rubber backing.

“We tell people it might stick together and we warn them it might not work but they let us have a go. Sometimes I wonder if people just want an excuse to buy new curtains,” he said.

During his 35 years at Classic Dry Cleaners Mr Hadden has seen many unusual garments dropped in for cleaning.

“Socks, handbags, lamp-shades, fascinators, hats, we’ve probably cleaned it all, even lingerie, which I guess people are too nervous about cleaning at home.”

On average, Mr Hadden and his team clean over 100,000 garments a year.

“I couldn’t put an exact figure on it but on average it’s 250 shirts a week. We handle 200 to 300 garments per day, 500 on busy days.”