San Mateo dry cleaner celebrates 60 years

“That’s what nurtures my soul,” she said.

Watterson and her parents and three siblings immigrated to the United States in 1960, and her parents settled in San Francisco after reading about it in the papers. Her mother, Violet Janks, opened the shop in 1963 and opened the San Mateo location July 12. While growing up, she worked with her mom doing tasks and joined her mom in 1986 and completely took over in 1994. The store focuses on specialty garments, vintage pieces, wedding gowns and museum work. Some of her favorite work has been for the San Francisco Airport Museum exhibits in the terminals around Fashion In Flight: A History of Airline Uniform Design, along with the Century of Brides Exhibit at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Her primary work focuses on wedding gowns, but her work can range, as she recently got a call about working on Civil War uniforms. She developed her skills for vintage through textile knowledge she learned from her mom, years in the business, and attending meetings and conferences.

She originally did not intend to enter the family business and instead worked for the FBI in various roles. She joined after hearing a career day pitch by a representative at City College of San Francisco and thought it would be a fun career. She started working for the San Francisco Field Office in 1969, writing shorthand for various agents for four years. She then served as a secretary for 12 years before working as an analyst. She left in her mid-30s to join her mother working for eight years, marveling at her mother’s dedication to the business and dynamism.

Her day starts early in the morning for the six days a week the business is open, with most of her time spent helping customers or doing small sewing tasks as she doesn’t have a seamstress on staff. Her small team of four has been around for years, with some who have been with her for two decades. She is not interested in retiring yet as she loves the work and wants to continue her mother’s legacy.

“It’s so much more than business and represents my mom and her courage to start it,” she said.

The 2,400-square-foot store in Crystal Springs Village has been in the same place for 60 years, transforming from a rural setting to a more suburban atmosphere. The operating plant does all the work on-site, with a steamy back interior due to machines working most of the day. The shop is filled with dresses and equipment in need of repairs, with original sewing equipment from the 1960s still in use. Her regular customer base stretches from San Francisco to Los Altos and have been loyal to her for years and through the pandemic when business suffered.

“I consider myself to be a very lucky person thanks to the business, staff and family,” she said.

Her husband, Robbie Watterson, said his wife loves what she does and is passionate about her work, noting she will call customers to ask if they are OK if they haven’t visited in a while. When several of her customers died, she attended their funerals, and she sometimes stays after store closure to help customers if they visited late. Robbie Watterson is retired and will sometimes help by picking up or dropping something off, with the main thing he provides is moral support as she runs a business.

“She loves doing what she is doing,” Robbie Watterson said. “She has great people who work for her and her customers who adore her.”

One of their favorite hobbies together is playing and watching golf. She and Robbie have two children and two grandchildren they enjoy spending Thanksgiving and holidays with as often as they can.

One of his favorite memories of her is when she wrote a letter to South African professional golfer Gary Player talking about her mother, who played with Player at golf clubs in South Africa. Player called and talked with Lynette about her mother, a vivid memory.

The pair met in eighth grade and will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, with Lynnette praising his kindness, selflessness and willingness to support her. The other day, he helped go to UPS to ship packages when she couldn’t get away from the store.

“He is a wonderful person,” she said.