Less than two weeks after the vicious murder of the beloved owner of a Windsor Terrace dry cleaner, employees removed flowers, stuffed animals and scrawled notes from the security gate of the 10th Avenue storefront and opened the shop for business on May 27.
The personal mementos now rest inside Eden Dry Cleaners, where customers dropped off dirty laundry and paid their respects to Kyung Sook Woo, 62, who was strangled to death in the rear of the store on May 15.
Police arrested 14th Street resident Jamal Winter, 22, on May 18 and charged him with slaying Woo and stealing her car.
Since her horrific death, Woo’s friends have planted a memorial tree in front of the shop, which is at the corner of Windsor Place, and started the Linda Woo Memorial Fund to raise money for her family.
“It’s terrible what happened, but I’m glad that they’re going to be open again,” said Charlie Powers. “I’m a loyal customer. I could go to other cleaners, but I’m going to keep coming here.”
Anna Park, 19, worked the register at Eden during its Tuesday reopening. Her mother — a longtime friend of Woo’s who declined to give her name — decided to take over the business.
“At first I was a little worried about coming here because of what happened,” Park said. “Then I saw the neighborhood and everyone said, ‘These things never happen here,’ so I’m not that nervous now.”
