Decorations inside the newly reopened Quick Clean Laundry at 117 W. Plymouth Ave. highlight DeLand landmarks, including this painting by manager Andrea Clark of the Historic Volusia County Courthouse clock.
Andrea Clark is welcoming customers back to the DeLand laundromat her family has owned for nearly 50 years.
Quick Clean Laundry at 117 W. Plymouth Ave. reopened Aug. 14 after being closed for 18 months due to a fire and an arduous rehabilitation of the building.
Andrea’s parents, Elmer and Darlene Smith, bought the business from Andrea’s grandfather in 1986, when Andrea was 12 years old. Now, Andrea has left her career as an X-ray technician to help her parents as manager of Quick Clean.
One of her first tasks was to brighten up the interior of the laundromat with murals and artwork depicting DeLand’s history and highlights.
BEFORE AND AFTER — In a photo from February 2022, various pieces of equipment and the laundromat’s building are seen damaged after the fire.
BEFORE AND AFTER — An orange tree and the Strawn Historic Citrus Packing House, as well as banners from other Central Florida attractions, line the walls of Quick Clean Laundry at 117 W. Plymouth Ave. in DeLand. The 70-year-old business reopened Aug. 14.
“I tried to go back and think about the things I liked when I was a kid in DeLand,” she said.
The decorations feature, for example, the citrus industry and the clock atop the Historic Volusia County Courthouse, incorporating a pair of clock hands that were rescued during the clock’s repair a few years ago.
All that’s missing now is the regular customers.
“We’ve been closed for 18 months, and everybody found another laundromat,” Andrea Clark said.
Quick Clean Laundry is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, with drop-off service available for $1.25 per pound. Unlike some other laundromats that have gone to credit cards only to operate the machines, Quick Clean still accepts cash.
