My father, Gary Campbell,
worked as an engineer for
Gulf General Atomic until
1972, when he and my mother
moved to Corvallis and purchased
Frad’s Cleaners and Beaver
Fabric Care Center. He founded
Campbell’s Cleaners, Inc.
in 1972. In 1983, Campbell’s
Ninth Street store relocated
to its large and modern present
location and in 1989, the
Kings- Circle store moved
to expanded quarters in the
Timberhill Shopping Center.
In 1996, the Ninth Street
coin-laundry was re-located
into a free-standing building
with over 3000 sq ft., featuring
a full-service espresso and
snack bar. In December of
last year, we opened a third
Corvallis location in combination
with Sunsations Tanning, an
upscale tanning salon featuring
UV-Free spray tanning as well
as Ultra Sun high-performance
tanning beds.
In 1994, I (Tammy Campbell-Thompson)
joined the family business
as Vice President after completing
a four-year accounting program
at Oregon State University.
Having worked mostly on the
front counter through high
school and college, I really
needed to hone my skills in
other departments. In 1995,
I attended the IFI Advanced
Drycleaning School. I continued
my education by attending
IFI’s Wetcleaning School,
Aqua Clean’s wet cleaning
training in New York, and
Kirk’s leather cleaning school
in Chicago.
We currently have 14 full-time
and 8 part-time employees.
In 2002, we converted to
the GreenEarth Cleaning System,
an environmentally friendly
way of dry cleaning. We have
been very happy with GreenEarth,
providing great cleaning results
without all of the negative
qualities of perc.
We process our own shirts
at our Timberhill location
using a Unipress All-in-One
Shirt Press.
Using the Aqua Clean system,
we wetclean several garments
on a daily basis. After processing,
we use Hi-Steam tensioning
equipment as needed. The Hi-steam
(tensioning) pants topper
has been one of our best investments.
Other finishing equipment?
2 Laundy Presses at our Timberhill
(Laundry) location, 2 Utility
Press Stations with Puff Irons
and Body Finishers, 1 Hot
Head station and one Pants
Press Station.
We’ve been using Max since
1989. We converted to Compass-Max
in 2002.
Campbell’s Cleaners is a
member of the Oregon Dry Cleaners Association, the
International Fabricare Institute, Corvallis Chamber of Commerce, a Sanitone licensee and a GreenEarth licensee. Campbell’s tanning
salon, Sunsations, is a member
of the Smart Tan Network. Gary and Tammy are
also members of their local
Rotary Clubs.
