Want To Go Green? Try Next Cleaners For Eco-Friendly—And Quality—Service

Just a stone's throw from the Montclair Municipal Building, and right next to the popular store, , stands a new resident of North Fullerton Avenue—Next Cleaners.

The business offers a laundry list (ha, ha) of discounts in an effort to reward loyal customers and entice new ones to come in.

They include:

—20 percent off for new customers

—20 percent off for senior citizens

—15 percent off for anyone who works for the town, including school teachers, police officers, janitors, and everyone else

Next also offers 15 percent off for those who prepay on Thursdays as part of a "Going Green Thursdays" initiative.

For more than three years, Next was located at 58 Church Street under the name Dry Cleaning Station, right next to Starbucks. It was a heavily trafficked location but, in time, the rent simply grew too steep to stay on.

Patrick Rhodes, owner of Next, said the spot at 57 North Fullerton Avenue seems a better fit.

"We like this place and think it will work well for us," said Rhodes, who moved into the new location about a month ago.

So charming is Rhodes and his employee, Adrian Waters, that this Patch editor was nearly convinced to start taking her own clothing to Next even though she's been using the same cleaners in Upper Montclair for years.

"If we can't clean it nobody can," Waters said.

Next's biggest selling point—in addition to free pickup and delivery for Essex County customers—is its use of green cleaning products.

"You can say you are organic and still use chemicals but we are eco-friendly meaning we don't use any harsh chemicals at all," said Rhodes, adding that "we're the only cleaners doing this in Montclair that I know of."

Indeed, Next uses only products from GreenEarth Cleaning, which replaces petroleum-based solvents with liquid silicone, a gentle solution made from one of the earth's safest and most abundant natural resources: silica, or sand.

When it comes to prices, Next charges $6.35 for trousers, $6.50 for a blazer, and $11.95 for a suit, men's or women's.

Items are dry cleaned offsite, at a plant in Fairfield, New Jersey, and are generally ready for pickup within three days. Next also completes rush orders that are ready for pickup the day after dropoff. Finally, Next also offers a wash-and-fold service.

"We are definitely a full-service cleaners," said Rhodes, adding that Next cleans Persian rugs too. "There is absolutely nothing we can't do."

Towards that end, Rhodes' mother works as a seamstress at Next and "can do alterations on anything," Rhodes said.

Rhodes owns the Next shop in Montclair, which is part of a chain that includes about a dozen stores, mostly in New York.

So stop on by and check out Next at its new location. Need another reason to visit? If the above discounts weren't enough, there are coupons available to be printed out off the Next website here.