Add cleaning plants to list of things found on eBay
You can find some pretty strange things for sale on eBay. For example, one
person offered one of Elvis Presley
’s teeth (Item #200150732473), but for some reason, nobody was willing to make
the $10,000 opening bid.
Then there were the 22 football cards featuring former Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback Michael Vick’s likeness that were chewed up by two dogs in Missouri.
Their owner donated the proceeds of the auction — a stunning $7,400 — to the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri and to Safe Harbor, a local animal
sanctuary.
On eBay, you just never know what to expect. Some items do not get a single hit,
while others seem to generate a ton of interest. The latter is precisely what a
trio of drycleaners in Ohio sought when they put their plant up for sale on the
Internet auction site recently.
The business — $1.75 Cleaners in Mayfield Heights — had been successful in 2006, grossing over $400,000 in sales.
However, a two-year $17.4 million Mayfield Road widening project began months
ago and adversely affected much of the local industry.
“Quite a few small businesses on this street have gone under because of this
closure, and there is absolutely nothing you can do,
” said $1.75 Cleaners co-owner Ellen Lippman. “It’s very frustrating.”
Since the construction first broke ground, she and her husband Richard Lippman,
along with his brother-in-law Larry Fasbinder, have seen their plant drop 40
percent of its volume until the point it was pretty much paying customers to
bring in their cleaning. The three owners were at a loss how to proceed.
Eventually, Ellen Lippman came up with the idea to try eBay.
“I’m not a big eBayer,” she confessed. “I just felt it was a way to get the message out there.”
The starting bid on the plant (Item #150165532835) was set at $5,000, a far cry from the $95,000 listing price
they sought for several months on the real estate market.
The plant went up on the auction block on Sept. 26 with no reserve, so it could
have conceivably sold for the opening bid.
That would be quite a bargain considering the winner would be buying the entire
2,800 sq. ft. plant and all of its equipment (most of which is less than eight
years old), including a Union 80-lb. perc machine and a 25 HP Hurst boiler.
“The equipment is top of the line,” Lippman noted.
The actual listing claimed the cost of building a new plant outfitted similarly
to $1.75 Cleaners would cost between $350,000 and $500,000.
Yet, the final bid tallied on Oct. 3 was only $60,000.
Actually, there were two bids for that amount, but the initial winner did not
end up purchasing the plant.
“It was an individual who won, but he could not get his financing together to
make the purchase,
” Lippman explained.
So, the buying rights shifted to the second-in-line bidder, which was not a
person, but rather, a non-profit organization known as ARCA, Inc.
“It’s an organization that works with people who are coming back into society after
they
’ve had issues with the law,” Lippman said. “So, they want to use the plant as a training facility, and, as we know in the
industry, once you become a skilled person, you can get a great job anywhere.
My husband and I are actually thrilled because this is a wonderful way to
contribute to the community.
”
Not too long ago, however, the Lippmans were anything but thrilled.
The frustration of dealing with horrible road construction on their business’s doorstep might have been more tolerable if it had not already happened to them
once before... in the same location even.
Back in 1996, Mayfield Road was shut down in similar fashion and the Lippmans
watched their giftware business struggle after 19 successful years.
“Unfortunately, we went through the same thing and we were forced to close down
that business,
” she said. “Believe me, it was horrible.”
These days, the Lippmans live in Las Vegas where they own and operate El Dorado
Cleaners and Payless Cleaners. Oddly enough, the only reason they owned $1.75
Cleaners was because they wanted to start it for someone else.
“It was a project that we originally did because we have friends back in
Cleveland,
” Lippman said. “After 9-11, their business kind of went south and we decided to come in as
investors and put them into business. They were not well-suited for that
business, but we did finally find a great manager.
”
Soon, the company turned its fortunes around and was “poised to go to the next level.” Then, bad luck struck again. After the manager’s wife developed breast cancer, he couldn’t continue to operate the store. Then the road closure project began.
“It was just one thing after another,” Lippman said.
Since the auction, things seem to be looking up again.
The non-profit organization still must pass a full financial inspection. If they
meet with the landlord
’s approval, however, they can assume the lease of the plant, which will run out
in June of 2008.
Now that the process is almost over, Lippman says she is especially glad that
the plant may help people who could use a second chance
— something she is well acquainted with herself.
Currently, she works with The Center for Independent Living, a non-profit
organization in Las Vegas that helps homeless teenagers get back into school
and the workforce.
“I sit on the board of directors and I am just tickled pink that this is the way
this is working out,
” she said. “To me, this is the Miracle on Mayfield.”
That miracle is just beginning. Ellen and her husband have already made plans to
train the founders of ARCA at their Las Vegas facilities.
“They can take all that back with them and start up the business again,” she said. “I just know they are going to be tremendously successful.”
