Great American Cleaners

Absolutely fantastic environmentally friendly dry cleaning establishment, run by wonderful, intelligent, friendly owners.

They saved us thousands of dollars worth of clothing, when they rescued dozens of items that had been made moldy by our last, former, dry cleaners.

Three closets of clothing had suddenly smelled musty to moldy, so my spouse took everything in at once to our former cleaners, so we could scrub clean the closets, and return only freshly cleaned clothing to them.

We thought it was worth the almost-$400 cost to "do it all at once, once and for all." Little did we realize then that it was our former dry cleaners' equipment itself that was steaming mold into the fabric--that the dry cleaners themselves were getting our clothing moldy. Having a serious mold allergy, this was too ironic.

The Great American Dry Cleaning Store owners came to the rescue, after we realized we needed to find a superlative cleaners to undo the damage of our former cleaners.

They miraculously succeeded in undoing the damage caused by our former cleaners. (We thought the clothes were "goners".) They later explained to us fabric can become infected with mold when the dry cleaning equipment itself is not properly cleaned frequently enough.

Not only does the Great American Dry Cleaning Store keep their establishment super clean, they even have a special isolated room for clothing that is brought in moldy by their customers. That clothing is exposed to ultraviolet light for a time before being separately cleaned, keeping other customers' clothing mold-free.

When Great American took in our first bags of almost-ruined moldy clothing, they were very kind and encouraged us to return any item that was not 100% to our satisfaction. That was not necessary - they did an excellent job in the first place.

We've used Great American Dry Cleaning Store for almost a year now, and the results are perfect.

Consistently wonderful. Over many years American Dry cleaners, next to Trader Joe's in El Cerrito plaza, has been so very helpful every time I had an emergency or whenever I simply needed alterations, dry cleaning, washing, etc.
Now that they pick up and deliver I am particularly glad because I sometimes need that service.
Clothes always come back perfectly as expected. They never disappoint.

The Best laundry service Friendly staff members
Great quality of work! Highly recommended

Affordable price!

The reviews suggest this place is awesome, and most of the time it is. I haven't used them since June '23 (it's Jan '24, 7 months later). Over the holidays, I get an email:

**
"I'm with Great American Dry Cleaners, Hope things are well. We haven't seen you at the store in a while, I hope we have not done anything to disappoint you in anyway. Your satisfaction is our number one priority.

Please let me know if applicable, if there were any concerns or issues with your previous order and I would appreciate it if you would give us an opportunity to address any concerns that you might have."
**

So here is what I wrote:

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out. I'm challenged to go back. 

In my last cleaning, a shirt was lost despite the front desk person (Ana?) saying she did not have it. Then it finally materialized. I always count my shirts, and this was no exception. I also count when I receive them, and in this case it was short. In fact looking at the receipt, she claimed that I took home 32 shirts, and then in a separate voice mail, I was told they counted 31 at drop off. The front desk person kept saying that I was in error. Is it 31 or 32? The shirt in question I knew you had, because if I got one shirt done, that was the one I needed ahead of a trip abroad. Then after I've flown abroad and I keep following up, it finally appears. WTH? It's linen and therefore harder to keep pressed, which leads to my next unfulfilled request.

I also asked for heavy starch and there wasn't *any* starch used. It's too expensive to get shirts laundered this way without fulfilling a basic and typical request for heavy starch, and to run the risk of loosing a $90 shirt. No starch is perhaps the worse offense, and since I was about to fly abroad, I didn't have time to contest (although I did write that my shirts were not starched).

No refund, no credit, and not even an admission that you literally lost my shirt and didn't starch the 50 or so shirts I brought to you.

That's why I haven't been back. 

Yelpers beware.

Great American Cleaners is far and beyond the best cleaners in El Cerrito. I took a very old coat to them. The counter person very carefully noted all the spots and even pointed out a small burn that I was unaware of. When I got the coat back it looked brand new.
I took another jacket to a different cleaners and even after pointing out the stains, it came back in the exact same condition.
Great American does great work, and their prices we re $3.50 cheaper for a larger coat. I highly recommend them.

I'm always impressed with the quality and ease of use with this company. From expertly restoring heritage vintage clothing to perfectly cleaning bulky down comforters, and all my dry cleaning needs, Great American Cleaners is the best. They even pick up and deliver. Their prices are competitive too!

I wash uniform here. Have never had an issue. Pressed great. Washed perfectly. Ready in a consistent time. Prices are reasonable. Many customers are there for alterations as well. I have been a customer for almost 5 years. Efficient. Transparent. Quality is what I care about. No mistakes thus far. I will undoubtedly continue being a customer

Never used this place but they keep spamming my phone with constant discounts just because I'm in the area code. Sounds desperate and extremely annoying.

While this company offers very reliable pickup and delivery services, the quality and customer service is lacking. A professional dry cleaner should understand how to not overheat fabrics. I sent in two of my custom made suits, each on a separate occasion and made from two different fabrics. The suits were returned with weird bubbling that the tailor attributed to overheating during pressing. I texted and emailed Great American Cleaners with no response. So my advice is not to send any garments that you really care about. Now I have to pay to ship my suits back to my overseas tailor to replace the lapel panels (who by the way is only charging me for shipping to and from, now that's customer service).

Did a great job removing cat hair from a fleece hoodie. My first time trying them, I will be back.

What initially drew me to this business as I was walking by was a sign in their window - - "if you are unemployed and need an outfit clean for an interview, we will clean it for free for free." If you know anyone that is in that situation--let them know about GADC.

Great American Dry Cleaners is a chain thit's aint that uses a "friendly process" that is virtually non toxic and biodegradable. They have 24 hour drop off (or they can pick them up). They also do alterations - - for those of you who have either gained or lost weight. If you don't have the time to do laundry - - they can clean and fold your clothes.

I found the staff there very friendly. The best thing is they don't use those stinky chemicals (PCE) that can stick to your clothes and may cause cancer.