Business t entrepreneurships

Irvin Dubin and his wife, Pearl, of Oak Park and Andy and Sandy Dubin with their son, Sam, all of
West Bloomfield, display a photo of the original shop owner, Sam Dubin.

Still Cleaning Up

New location
boosts business
for family-owned
dry cleaner.

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

D

ubin Cleaners has been in the dry cleaning business one
way or another in the Detroit area for 61 years. Sandy and
Andy Dubin of West Bloomfield are the third "mom and
pop" of the old-time Jewish Dubin family to run it.
The young entrepreneurs opened Dubin Cleaners on Orchard
Lake Road near 13 Mile in Farmington Hills, site of the former
Christo's Cleaners. In just over a year, Dubin Cleaners sales have
increased 150 percent in a depressed Michigan economy.
"We did it on our own through high-quality work and by going
above and beyond what we need to do for customers:' declared

Staff photo by Armando Rios

Andy Dubin, 44, who got a taste of the business at age 10 by earn-
ing a quarter an hour picking pins off the floor on weekends at the
old Dubin location.
Sam Dubin, a Detroit tailor, launched a family tradition in
1946 when he opened Dubin Cleaners on Grand River Avenue in
Northwest Detroit's Rosedale Park area, assisted by his wife, Anna.
His son, Irvin, joined him at the store, with his wife, Pearl. Irvin,
now 88, retired in 1981; the store was sold 10 years later.
"We were at the Rosedale Park location for 45 years and built a
staunch clientele said Andy Dubin, who graduated from Oak Park
High School and soon realized he wanted to stick with the family
business. "We had a few hold-ups there, but the robbers didn't hurt
anyone. When we sold the store, the new owners insisted on keep-

February 14 • 2008

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