Business is slowly picking up again at North Tryon Laundromat in Charlotte’s Hidden Valley neighborhood. Customers come in carrying bags of dirty clothes and fill the washers one by one.
But it’s still slow. Just weeks ago, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested people in the laundromat’s parking lot — an incident that owner David Rebolloso says changed everything.
Rebolloso recorded video outside his business during the arrests. Since then, he says, customers have largely stayed away.
“It’s practically empty,” Rebolloso said. “More than half of the cars that used to park there are gone. That was how we measured activity, and it’s dropped significantly.”…