New Economy Linen and Towel Service location could bring 140 jobs to West Dayton

A local company hopes to open a new facility in West Dayton next month that will bring 70 jobs to the long-struggling area and the facility is expected to employ twice as many people sometime down the road, including some residents who live in nearby neighborhoods.

Economy Linen and Towel Service Inc., which is headquartered in downtown Dayton, is nearly finished with a new 80,000-square-foot facility on the 1900 block of McCall St.

Construction on the facility began in March 2021, and it will be used for laundry services for the health care industry, such as processing hygienic linen and uniforms for hospitals, surgery centers and doctors’ offices, said Bruce Feldman, president of Economy Linen.

“We hope that this investment sparks additional development in West Dayton,” he said. “We have always been a big supporter of the city, and recognize that there is a lot of potential and a lot of great things going on in West Dayton ... we are excited to take part in the future.”

Economy Linen employs about 300 people between its production facilities in Dayton and Zanesville and its depots in Cincinnati, Columbus and Indianapolis.

The new facility initially is expected to employ about 70 people, but that should grow to about 140 over time, Feldman said.

The payroll will be a mix of new employees and employees transferring from the company’s current locations, he said, and some current employees already live in the area and are looking forward to a shorter commute.

Feldman said, “We hope to hire a lot of employees from West Dayton (and surrounding areas) and will be looking for maintenance technicians, drivers, production supervisors and production employees.”

Economy Linen is a family-owned company that was started by Harry Feldman in 1931, and it grew under the leadership of DeNeal Feldman, who helped make it into a well-known provider of medical and hospital linen.

Bruce Feldman said this will be “the most state-of the-art and technologically advanced hygienic healthcare laundry plant in the nation.”

The company is investing about $20 million into the facility, which is located in what some Dayton leaders have called one of the most economically depressed areas of the city.

“This development Economy Linen is doing in the heart of West Dayton ... it’s going to be transformative,” said Dayton City Commissioner Chris Shaw last year.

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