[heraldnet.com – 2026.09.28] MONROE, WA — When 16-year-old Alyssa Green Aggarwal got the job working the front counter at a Monroe dry cleaner, she didn’t expect that nearly two decades later she would return as the owner.
Despite only working at Hill Street Cleaners for four years, she kept in touch with her former boss, Eldon Bartelheimer, through community events and their shared neighborhood. It was on a walk through said neighborhood where she learned Bartelheimer was retiring after 35 years and looking for a buyer.
“It was just of immediate interest to me,” Aggarwal said. “I didn’t know if it was something we could or would do, but when I came home and talked to my husband about it, he was just as interested.”
By the beginning of June, Aggarwal and her husband, Sagar Aggarwal, were the new owners of the dry cleaners.
No longer sitting behind the front desk, but signing paychecks from the chair Bartelheimer previously signed hers has been a surreal experience, she said.
“I mean, I’ve seen the former owner sit in that very chair for years on that side of the desk,” Green Aggarwal said. “I would sit across from him if I came into his office with a question. And so, sitting down in that very chair and having employees come to me to ask me questions was truly surreal.”
Since Bartelheimer bought the North Lewis Street cleaners in 1991, he has been a member of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce Board and assisted in community events by washing mascot costumes and the Evergreen Speedway driver’s uniforms, Aggarwal said.
While he misses his former employees, Bartelheimer said he is happy to pass the business on to someone who will hopefully keep it running another 35 years.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling,” he said about his former employee returning to the helm. “It’s good somebody who has some knowledge of the business is taking over.”
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