A notice on the door of the Central Linen Service premises, in Anderson Rd, states DSCRQ Ltd, trading as Central Linen Services, was placed in liquidation by the High Court, in Dunedin, on October 21.
One of the laundry's customers, Lake Hawea Hotel manager Yohann Bourdin, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday he heard of the closure at 4pm on Friday, when he was fully booked for Labour Weekend.
''We were kind of in big trouble. It was pretty difficult.
''We had already too much stress.''
Then fortunately, he said, along came Pacific Linen, an Auckland company that had been operating in Cromwell for three years and which had recently bought the Cromwell laundry.
Pacific Linen co-owner Jo Staveley said from Cromwell yesterday the phone calls from Wanaka businesses looking for laundry services began on Friday, and it began sending out the first clean stock to businesses on Saturday.
''We worked through to like midnight on Monday night, turning stuff over,'' Mrs Staveley said.
She described the timing of the announcement of the Wanaka laundry's closure as ''massively disruptive'' for accommodation businesses.
''If it wasn't for us, they would have been in a lot of trouble. They'd have to turn away bookings.''
However, in the long run she expected the closure would be positive for her business.
She plans to provide a regular service to Wanaka.
''We really want everybody to feel it's not a problem. There are new kids in town.
''And we know what we are doing.''
Mrs Staveley said she planned to upgrade linen stock, lease more laundry space and buy more machinery.
Pacific Linen began in South Auckland 20 years ago, and was owned by Mrs Staveley, her sister and mother.
Mrs Staveley said two staff employed at the Wanaka laundry were now working for her in Cromwell, while other casual staff had decided to ''move on''.
The notice on the door of the Wanaka laundry said Vivien Madsen-Ries and Henry David Levin had been appointed liquidators.
They did not return calls yesterday.
The companies office lists Simone Mazanetz Hildebrand, of Churchlands, Australia, as the sole director and shareholder of Central Otago Linen Services and the sole director of DSCRQ, owned by Quant Group Holdings, Hong Kong.
