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August 31, 2021

Jet Cleaners anniversary brings out Upper State Street pride

PHOTOS | Liese Klein Mike Amore, Jr. shows a souvenir shirt to New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.
By Liese Klein

A bit of tailoring. A bit of home delivery to make payment easier. A bit of wash-dry-and-fold for those stuck in lockdown.

That’s how Mike Amore, Jr., kept his family’s business, Jet Cleaners at 762 State St., alive during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Haven.

“The last 18 months, it’s just been a tunnel-vision focus and a little bit of reinvention,” Amore said Tuesday at an event celebrating Jet Cleaners’ 65th anniversary. 

“I drew on my ancestry more than I thought,” Amore added, referring to his Italian immigrant grandfather Nicholas Amore, who started Jet in 1956. 

The younger Amore joined the business in 1988, when times were good with customers aplenty. In the decades since, many dry cleaners have closed due to changing consumer habits and environmental concerns. 

But Jet Cleaners carried on, sustained by loyal customers from Yale and City Hall. The business moved to its current Upper State storefront in 2016 to downsize and make way for upscale pizza bar Da Legna at Nolo.

“COVID hits, business just goes boom boom, nothing,” Amore said. In the months that followed, he found himself drawing on memories of his father and grandfather’s dedication to the business. 

“Two years after his death, I became my father,” Amore said. “Jet Cleaners became my central focus — how do I stay, how do I survive? 

In addition to creating new services at the cleaners, Amore also made masks from shirts customer’s didn’t pick up. 

Small business support

The strong and cohesive business community of Upper State Street has also come together to support the area’s small businesses during the pandemic.

Youthful property developer Alex Opuszynski credited the strong neighborhood character with the inspiration for his new apartment building, slated to break ground in October at 793 State.  Vanguard on State will adopt architectural features from the neighborhood and honor the area’s community spirit, he said. 

Opuszynski also plans to move his own real estate investment business into retail space on the ground floor of the four-story complex, in keeping with the “owner-operator” character of State Street’s business district. 

Deputy Economic Development Administrator Carlos Eyzaguirre presents Mike Amore with a proclamation celebrating Jet Cleaners' 65th anniversary.

That Jet Cleaners, other small businesses and most of the restaurants on Upper State survived the pandemic is a testament to the business district’s spirit of cooperation and support, city officials said.

Deputy Economic Development Administrator Carlos Eyzaguirre said, “It really speaks to the resiliency of this Bradley-State corner, the close-knit neighborhood that is here. During Covid they really banded together.”

Looking back and ahead to uncertain times, Amore of Jet Cleaners credits his family business legacy for keeping him motivated. “All the people before me are my stepping stones right now,” Amore said. “I’m a small part of it —  I just carry the torch.” 

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.

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