A year and a half after opening, one off-campus business has yet to take Tufts Student Resources to the cleaners.
Tufts Student Resources provides students with on-campus laundry and dry-cleaning service. It competes with the Clean 'N Brite II, located on Boston Avenue.
Student complaints of the on-campus service encouraged Clean 'N Brite founders to open the business, co-founder Judith Koor said. Koor and her partner, Paul Martin, opened another location in Melrose, Mass. five years ago.
"We had heard that a lot of the kids were unhappy with the service at school, and we decided that we could do better," Koor said. She said students complained about lost or stained clothes.
Tufts Student Resources' financial manager for the laundry service, sophomore Julie Cohen, said the loss of customers to the Clean 'N Brite has been minimal. The group sends students' laundry to a different off-campus Laundromat to do the work.
Tufts Students Resources is a student-run company that offers a variety of services, including aerobics, microfidge and safe rentals, and running the Rez Caf?© ©n the campus center.
According to Cohen, Tufts Student Resources has done about 720 loads of laundry during the first six weeks of this semester. There have been three complaints of lost clothing, she said.
"We work really closely with the laundromat we send the clothes to," Cohen said. "If someone loses something, it's pretty easy for us to recover it."
Koor said about 40 Tufts students use the Clean 'N Brite service.
This is about one third of the students using Tufts Student Resources, Cohen said.
Part of the on-campus service's loss may be due to price. As part of a back-to-campus special, Clean 'N Brite offered 29 weeks of service for $360. There is also a $190 per semester option.
Customers fill a laundry bag with 15 lbs. of clothing each week. Dry cleaning is also available for no extra charge.
The Tufts Student Resources service charges $395 for a full year with a 15 lb. bag or $285 for a 10 lb. bag. A shirt service is also provided: $150 for five shirts per week, $110 for three, or $85 for two.
For students who do not sign up for a package, ? ¬a carte dry-cleaning is available. The company charges $8 for a two piece suit and $6 for a fleece jacket, among other items.
Clean 'N Brite is a welcome addition, sophomore Phillip Cherry, who uses the Tufts Student Resources service, said. "I'm happy with the laundry, but I like options," he said. "It's good to have another service available."
Convenience may also affect students' decisions. Customers of Tufts Student Resources must bring their clothes to one of two drop-off locations. Students who live uphill leave their bags at Carmichael Hall on Mondays and downhill students go to Hodgdon on Wednesdays. Clothes are washed at the Circle Laundry in Somerville.
Clean 'N Brite employees pick up students' laundry from their dorm rooms at a specified time. They can also call to arrange a better pick-up time.
"I want our service to be as homey as possible," Koor said. "I'm a mother and I want the kids to know that somebody will always be in to help them."
Both services return the clothes to students' dorms the next day.
