Michael Rodman says all the pants he owns were inside the Zoots dry-cleaning store on Washington Street in Wellesley.
“They have all my pants, so I’ve been wearing jeans all week, which is good by me,” he said, adding that he took the day off from work to pick up his clothes, since all he had to wear were the jeans he had on when he dropped off his pants.
He wasn’t alone in trying to reclaim his clothes.
Customers of the 17 Zoots stores in Massachusetts have until 4 p.m. Friday to pick up their dry-cleaning, otherwise the clothes will be sent off to a centralized facility.
The Brockton-based company filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on Jan. 19, 2018 and shut its doors, without warning to any customers, which left many of them scrambling.
A bankruptcy judge ruled the business could open all its stores for one day so customers could retrieve their clothing items.
At least a dozen people were lined up at the Wellesley Zoots store when the doors opened at seven o’clock this morning.
Tom Docktor of Wellesley says when he received word Zoots was closing, he realized his favorite work shirts were at the store.
“When my wife stopped by to pick up the clothes, and the doors were closed,” Docktor said. “It was a scramble [to remember], what did we leave there?”
Like most other customers, Docktor successfully retrieved his clothing items.
Soyuk Wong of Needham had dropped off 13 items to be dry-cleaned more than two weeks ago, including an expensive tailored suit.
“I was getting ready for an interview, I have an interview coming next week, so I’m sort of glad that they were opening, because I was a little worried that I’d have to go find a new suit," she said. "So, that was a little nerve wracking.”
There was a steady flow of people on line, but not all the clothes being picked up had been cleaned. If they had been cleaned, customers had to pay for it.
Customers say they’re sad the business is closing, but they're relieved to have their clothes returned.
