coronavirus pandemic

Pandemic Shutters Family-Owned Laundry Business Operating in NYC Over 60 Years

The family-owned business was known for its old school "hand laundry" method with stacks of clean clothes wrapped in butcher's paper and tied with string

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Another small business casualty of the coronavirus pandemic: Sun's Laundry closed its door for the final time on Saturday.

The laundry service operating out of a storefront on East 14th Street in Stuy Town closed for good after more than 60 years in business.

The family-owned business was known for its old school "hand laundry" method with stacks of clean clothes wrapped in butcher's paper and tied with string.

The 84-year-old owner, Robert Lee, was already considering retirement but the pandemic pushed him to the edge.

Jane Lee inside her family's laundry business in Stuy Town
News 4
Jane Lee helps her father pack up the store that's been operated by their family since 1959.

Lee's daughter thinks it's not even worth it to inherit the family business.

"At this point with COVID-19 safety ramifications people are not working, they're working from home. So they're not washing their laundry or doing dry cleaning," she said. "Business has gone down hill."

Lee opened the business with his Chinese-born dad in 1959 and for a while he lived above the storefront. He was able to save up enough money to buy a home with his wife in Elhmurst, Queens.

But now, Lee says the one-hour commute is just too much to bare.

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