On the Upper East Side, 24-hour laundry business seeks building partnerships

Though the options for dry cleaning and laundry services on the Upper East Side can seem limitless, the hours of these services operation are typically quite limited. But an entrepreneur is bringing a 24-hour cleaning service to retail storefronts in the neighborhood, the Wall Street Journal reported, and is in talks with landlords to bring the service to residential buildings, gyms and parking garages.

DashLocker, founded by a former analyst named Robert Hennessy, is a service that provides customers with 24-hour accessible lockers, where they can leave clothing to be laundered or dry cleaned and pick the items up when cleaned. The business opened its first store at 1566 Second Avenue in June and, through broker Jay Gilbert of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, has leases for three other locations, at 1733 First Avenue, 1436 Lexington Avenue and 220 East 78th Street. The spaces range from 250 to 975 square feet and $75 to $100 per square-foot.

Hennessy said the firm is responding to demand from New Yorkers without traditional 9-to-5 job schedules that need dry cleaning. He said he’s in talks with non-retail landlords to increase the DashLocker’s convenience by bringing lockers to parking garages and residential buildings. [WSJ, 3rd item]