151 years of cleaning
comes to an end
comes to an end
Believed to be the oldest family-run
business in San Francisco — and possibly the oldest
family-run cleaners in the United States — G.F. Thomas
Cleaning has been around for 151 years.
To put that in perspective, there have
been 30 different U.S. presidents in office during that span of
time.
For the company itself, there have been
four generations of owners, including current plant manager
Emile Thomas, Jr., who has logged in over 57 years of
drycleaning service since he began working at G.F. Thomas
Cleaning in high school. After graduation, he attended several
cleaning courses to sharpen his skills.
“We had to be licensed to be a
spotter and know textiles and fibers and dye stuff and so on
back then — and know acids and alkalis and oxidizing
bleaches and reducing bleaches,” Thomas said. “But
today nobody has any of that or a license. All they have to
have is a key to the front door.”
Thomas will be turning 75 this month and
believes it’s finally time to retire. After all, he is
still working full time, doing a little of everything... from
customer service to driving the pickup and delivery route, a
longtime staple of the company that was founded seven years
before the Civil War by Emile’s great-grandfather. He
came to America from France during the days of the California
Gold Rush.
“The business originally started in
1854,” he noted. “My understanding was that they
did dyeing and stuff in France and when they came here they
started drycleaning as well as dyeing.”
In the early days, the plant offered
delivery service via a source of transportation that relied on
oats and hay instead of gasoline and oil.
“As a matter of fact, the telephone
number on the side of the horse and wagon was ‘969’
which are the last three numbers of our telephone number
today,” he added.
Aside from having more digits in their
phone number, G.F. Cleaning hasn’t tried to change much
in the way it has conducted business over the past 15 decades.
The company’s secret to longevity
is simply trying to take care of the customer and offer
exemplary cleaning service.
The formula has certainly worked.
Sometimes, customers move away from the Bay area to the other
side of the country but still use G.F. Thomas as their cleaners
of choice.
“We do have some loyal customers
and when they move they don’t find somebody that they are
happy with and send stuff back to us,” Thomas, Jr. noted.
One major change the company did have to
undergo took place shortly after the devastating earthquake of
1906. G.F. Thomas was forced to relocate to a temporary site in
the Duboc Triangle.
Of course, that was almost 100 years ago
and the company still takes up residence in that
“temporary” spot on 14th Street.
Unfortunately, it’s not likely that
the company will stay put for another 100 years since there are
no plans for a fifth generation of the family to take the helm
of the shop at this time.
While a bit sad at the prospect of the
family store closing after such a long time, Thomas, Jr. does
feel he’s earned a little rest.
In an interview with a reporter from CBS
Channel 5 in San Francisco, he said: “I think it’s
time to go out and feed the squirrels and enjoy a little bit of
time instead of being here five-and-a-half days a week.
Truthfully, it’s going to be difficult. It will be a
whole new program.”