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In our country the first dry cleaning service began working in prewar times. And in the early 1960s a chain of specialized enterprises started to develop rapidly.

Yuvileina (Jubilee) was one of the most popular dry cleaners in Kyiv. Then it had 5000 square meters of production space, German equipment, and 5000-10,000 orders a day. This Titanic of consumer service was placed in operation on the centennial of Lenin's birth. Since then more than one foreign delegation has visited this exemplary enterprise.

"Just imagine yourself that the item was being cleaned on the first floor and only eleven seconds were given to deliver it to the second floor for trimming. And God forbid it be late!" the Yuvileina director Olha Sopylko recalls. "Now, of 78 reception points only 18 remain. And they accept around 200 items every day."

Ms. Sopylko says the former giant enterprise now has the advantage of guaranteed quality and reasonable price. The most effective and the nation's only mechanized line for dry cleaning carpets can also be found here. They also refurbish the furs and clean up the down pillows by changing how it ticks. Moreover, the open stock company is famous for the secrets of its experienced masters: nobody knows what they mix down there, but they often manage to remove the most hopeless stains. Still, amusing and curious incidents do happen from time to time. Once they received a plaid without any information about its composition. They risked cleaning it. What they extracted from drum was a piece of rosin with a label on it. There were pants that hardened after chemical treatment, and pants that became noodle-like for some fibers simply dissolved. As a rule, such metamorphoses happen to the clothes for the deceased, bought abroad at give-away prices.

But forget about clothes; with transition to the market many large enterprises have vanished. There are some former leaders of this sector in Kyiv that are undergoing privatization, where only a director, a janitor, and a broken fence are left. Fortunately, many enterprises managed to survive: for example, the Oksamyt (Velvet) Company, Stolychny (capital) House of Consumer Services, Novynka (New), Rusanivka, and Lotos firms. And they have very serious competitors - dry cleaners with solid foreign capital.

I meet Stanislav Mykolaiovych by the entrance to PROGRESSO-ITALIA Dry Cleaners. Formerly a research officer of the Leninska Kuzniya Plant's Construction Bureau, he used to develop devices for industrial fishing. The country does not need fishery ships now, so Stanislav Mykolaiovych works as a machine operator in the joint venture.

"The staff selection is very strict, "says director Volodymyr Zatokovoi. "Technical education, as well as ability to work and associate 'in capitalistic way' is mandatory. Two reprimands are usually followed by discharge. Everything we have in the office, from the cleaning equipment to the stapler, is the same as in Italy. Our Italian partners say that the workers here are distinguished by more concentration and excitement."

"How can you take this in for cleaning?" they wonder sometimes, "We throw this away in our country."
This and other enterprises grant services to the most needy people free as charity. But they are well off people-oriented. The backbone of PROGRESSO's business, as well as of all joint ventures in the field, is high quality cleaning and pressing of expensive leather goods.

Are there any waiting lines? "It happens sometimes," Mr. Zatokovoi says. "People, as well as problems, come more often in the season of rains, snow and mud. There was recently one case when an offended customer was arguing his sweater had shrunk eight sizes due to our fault. We could have avoided many conflicts if people had not tried to clean things themselves and brought us the dirty clothes right away.

One of the customers in the American Dry Cleaners asked if they would clean nabuk for him. I was told nabuk is a very fashionable type of leather, which resists renovation. "Nevertheless, American quality is guaranteed," executive director Oleh Dukhota assured me, "of course, if the trademark does not turn out to be fake and have hidden defects."

The joint venture has German equipment; its ironing machines, where the temperature is computer-controlled, are the objects of the enterprise's particular pride. Like in America, the service is elite-oriented.

"Is calling an expensive dry cleaners a question of prestige?" I asked one of the customers.

"To some extent," Iryna S. answered. "Anyway, there is a good atmosphere here, no irritating smells, and a well-mannered staff. I have gotten used to this dry cleaners, so why should I take risk going somewhere else?"

Development department manager of Ukrsoiuzservis Volodymyr Ulazovsky commented on the situation in the dry cleaning market. According to him, revival of consumer service in the form of open stock companies and joint ventures does not change the situation within this socially needed service. The enterprises with foreign capital give their owners a chance to make quick cash, and they are set up in large cities. The general situation in the country is hopelessly bad. Their reorientation and rational improvement accompanied the structural reform of the enterprises. As of January 1, 1991, there were 2471 dry cleaners, but by early 1998 600 of them had closed. This network has absolutely collapsed in the provinces, and there are now only nine reception points in the country. The situation with laundries and saunas is similar. The whole network of the specialized enterprises, meant for emergencies, has been ruined. It is easy to guess what it threatens the country with - we in Ukraine have not had so many diseases, caused by elementary hygienic violations since the war. Meanwhile, the predictions are not very comforting: the state is finishing the remaining enterprises off with exorbitant taxes and introduction of cash registers instead of receipts for all reception points.

Last April a League of Dry Cleaners and Laundry Complexes was established in Ukraine, uniting the industry's leading enterprises of all types of ownership. The League's representatives report that the sector's crisis has reached the critical point and attempts to protect consumers' rights. But it seems that so far it is only a voice in the wilderness. If so, then it would seem that in the wilderness no one really needs this socially vital service.