Cleaning up, one brew at a time

Laundromat, coffee shop comes to Van 

Mark Thompson said he saw a need, a need for people to have the means of washing clothes and grabbing a cup of coffee in Van after the May 10, 2015, tornado. So, he and a few others joined together and renovated the 60-plus year building into what now is the Clean Brew coffee shop and laundromat.

Thompson said he and his family have lived on Pennsylvania Street since 2005 “and we have watched it go from a very active laundromat to something that was basically neglected. It was not in good operating condition prior to the tornado. But, the tornado basically sealed its fate. The building had some superficial and structural damage.”

When the tornado passed, about a month after a for sale sign showed up on the property, Thompson said.  “Most of the property along Pennsylvania Street was being cleaned up and revitalized. Nothing had been done on the property and I knew that something needed to be done.”

Thompson said that while he was new to coffee craft, he did have four motives to providing the service of a laundromat and coffee shop.

 “If you saw the condition of the laundromat, after the tornado, what it said to us is that no one cares, we’ve given up hope and lets just write it off. Yet, we knew that the community used it. It was a needed service. Second, we wanted to redeem something from the tornado. It is a tremendous effort to completely clean up everything on property that was damaged by a natural disaster. We felt that the neighborhood deserved something to help bring hope. There is still that feeling of wow, the tornado has hit. It will never be as it was, but will it be something and, how long will that take before it comes something that is appreciated. Third, we wanted to create jobs. In our infancy, we have five, full or part time employees.  This venture will also hopefully provide supplemental retirement for my wife and I,” Thompson said.  

Thompson said that he also saw a need for a craft coffee service as well.

“It was the storm and the elections that were a deciding factor for the coffee. At least one city council election ago, was about what Van needs. When people are talking about improvement or government in a town, and one thing that was repeated was the question of what can we bring into Van? Something kept coming up was that a coffee shop was needed. A higher-end, quality craft coffee shop,” said Thompson. 

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