Hilker’s Cleaners

Took my wedding dress here to get cleaned since they boast it as a speciality.
The man at the counter advised it would take 8 weeks total to clean and box. Once cleaned they would give me a call so I could come look before they boxed it. When 8 weeks came and went, I called and was told they would have to check and call me back. The call back indicated they were working on it now and it should be ready in 3 days to view. 3 days comes and goes and I call again. The lady who answered the phone said she would check and call me back. She never did so after about 3 more days I call again and am told it is ready to view. The hem of the dress was still pretty dirty and they do not iron them before boxing so it really did not look good at all but I was really over this whole process and told them to go ahead and box. And the waiting game started again… after more than 13 weeks I finally got my dress back. Nothing special about the packaging. I would even say the box is not really big enough for my dress as it bulges. Appears to be just a regular cardboard box with a flap.

I visited friends in Raleigh over the holidays. I used Hilker’s Cleaners due to its proximity. First, this place charges almost a dollar more a shirt than big city dry cleaners. I was hard pressed for time and accepted this. When I got back to D.C., I discovered that they did not even clean one of my Hugo Boss shirts! Same ring around the collar, but ironed. If you are OK with the price, so-​so cleaning and a bar code ironed on to the inside of your shirt tail then give this place a try. Not impressed.

First the saga: we left my wedding dress in our downstairs guest closet and blissfully enjoyed our first summer together. One day I got the urge to take a look at the dress, and when I opened the closet, I discovered that a pipe had been leaking through the closet ceiling onto my dress, and that the tulle confection I’d worn down the aisle had turned into a moldy mess. Enter Hilker’s Cleaners, who saved the day– they cleaned and boxed the dress, making it as perfect as the day I first tried it on. If you have a formal wear disaster, take it here– they can work miracles