Charles Crane/MDN A building permit states the building that was formerly the Roll-N-Pin restaurant is now being remodeled to be turned into a dry cleaning business.

Minot’s options for dry cleaning are few and far between, leaving many would-be customers looking high and low for anyplace to take their delicate or vintage clothing items. Despite Minot being home to several laundromats and cleaning services, none currently offer dry cleaning.

Most recently the lone business offering dry cleaning was City Laundry & Dry Cleaning, which closed sometime in mid-March. City Laundry’s owner Richard Patel shared in a post on the business’s Facebook page that due to an accident and surgery, he would not be able to walk for some time. Arrangements were made for the shop to be open so customers could pick up their orders, but the last sign of activity on the page was on March 15, and the phone number for the business is no longer in service.

In the interim, Turrito’s Dry Cleaning in Bismarck has established a drop-off location in the Magic City at the Marketplace Foods on 20th Avenue Southwest and Broadway. Turrito’s sends a driver to Minot twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays to pick up new orders and drop off cleaned items for their owners. At this time Turrito’s management says they will maintain their current arrangement in lieu of establishing themselves in Minot, due to staffing concerns.

With the local market essentially wide open for the taking, there are currently two parties looking to plant a flag. One of them is Expressway Laundromat in south Minot, which already offers a self-service and drop-off laundry. Owner Mitch Evenson said that while they do have the physical space to add the additional service, they are still in the planning phases and researching equipment and pricing. Evenson said that he is eyeing the first quarter of 2023 for the rollout of dry cleaning at Expressway, noting that customers looking for the service currently have nowhere to go.

The second party moving into the dry-cleaning business is entrepreneur Nian-Chiu Chou, who took out a building permit in October to remodel the location that was formerly the Roll-N-Pin restaurant on North Broadway. The building permit posted in the building states the permit’s purpose is to “remodel for dry cleaning.” The Minot Daily News was not able to reach Chou for comment.