Pressing On in the Name of Family Tradition

All but the most casual fashions eventually make a trip to a professional dry cleaner. Right across the street from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is the family owned-and-operated, University Cleaners where students, faculty and residents have dropped off their shirts, dresses and suits for   years.

“Long time ago, we used to get practically everything over there at the University,” said Wilbur Corbin who inherited the business from his parents. “My mother and father started the cleaners about 60 years ago.”

Corbin, his sister, Faye Higgins, and longtime employee Joyce Long offer an unusual bonus for customers, allowing them more than the standard 30 days to pick up an item.

It’s a generous perk Corbin explained, “We say 30 days, but sometimes we keep things over a year or two. Some people go through some changes, and you just can’t rid of their clothes.”

Higgins and Long recalled a man whose wife picked up his clothes as he was on his way home after spending nine years in prison.

“They’re good people and very efficient,” said Tylor Johnson as he loaded his clothes. The teenager said he and his parents found the Corbin’s cleaners when they relocated to Pine Bluff from Seattle.

The last name Corbin is a familiar one in this college town. Joseph Carter Corbin is one of the founders of UAPB, one of the nation’s first HBCUs and known as Branch Normal College of the Arkansas Industrial University in 1875.

Wilbur Corbin smiled at the irony that his family shares the same last name of the man who founded his cleaners longtime neighbor. “As far as I know, we are not related,” said the 62-year-old Corbin.

An institution in the community, Corbin described his work as a “service.” He added, “It’s not really hard. It’s just hot during the summer.”