Don's Cleaners in Sharon Place Says Customers Will Be Repaid Thanks to High-Tech System

 The day after disaster strikes a Newburgh shopping center, Eyewitness News returns to the scene to find out what the future holds for one of the businesses destroyed in the blaze. The complex housed 9 businesses and a church all of which, are a total loss. Investigators still have not pin pointed an exact cause but believe the fire started in the middle of the shopping center and quickly spread. Cold temperatures and gusty winds made battling the massive blast very difficult. For one of those businesses, Don's Cleaners, thousands of customer's clothes are unsalvagebale. Eyewitness News Tabnie Dozier continues our team coverage speaking with what was the longest standing business in the strip. The Don's Cleaners in Sharon Place was built in the 1980's, there's now nine cleaners left in Evansville and Newburgh, for those who loss their clothes, we've learned they will will be reimbursed due to a high tech system. But for the owner, he says this location loss hurts the most. Steve Schmitt says he was out of town when he got word of this devastating fire that destroyed Don's Cleaners. For Schmitt, he helped build Sharon Place almost thirty years ago. Schmitt says although he can't replace the lost items, he has a high tech system that can repay them monetarily. He says every piece of clothing had a barcode sewn into them, connecting them to his system so he knows exactly what was lost. Now the process of tracking down all that's been lost begins, Schmitt has a handful of other businesses but says his heart aches for his Sharon Place neighbors who only had one. The reality of this fire has yet to register. Schmitt says while moving on he's keeping his friends and fellow entrepreneurs in his prayers. Schmitt estimates more than $50,000, as for the value of all the clothes, he says that's a number he may never know. He's had his barcode system for about seven years.