Michael’s Hallmark Shop

Great selection. However, I was there on a Saturday night when the hours were posted as open until 6pm. When I got there at 5:35 they were already turning lights off. The door was open and a couple that was leaving said they wee open, so I went in. 5 minutes later, they are telling me they are closing in 5 minutes. No apologies, no reason given, the two people working just didn’t want to stay until 6. Amy’s at El Paseo is open until 8, so they’ll get my business going forward.

The Postal annex here is great, much better than going to the actual post office. The workers are more efficient and more friendly than at the USPS. They know all the postal rules and tricks and often advise on how to save money or ensure better, faster delivery, packaging, etc. I mail a lot of books. If they’re not too busy they often ask about packages and want to know if the books are good, etc. The line can be long, but it moves much faster than at the post office. There’s always two and sometimes three clerks, unlike the Loyola Corners post office where there’s usually only one. Of course I also use this store to buy greeting cards from time to time. Everyone is always friendly and efficient at the main counter, too.

I am so grateful for their postal services. I was in there one day and Rene was so helpful he helped me figure out the best way to send my packages. He really went above and beyond any kind of customer service I would have received at any other post office. In fact, everyone who works there goes above and beyond. It’s so nice to have a locally owned community business where they value their customers and exceed at customer service.

**********Warning this will be a long post**********
So here’s my story.
It’s Saturday morning and I’m in need of a helium tank for a friend’s birthday party. I give them a call and they’re able to get me a tank. I’m super happy and pick it up without issue.
The night of the party comes and I’m at the restaurant setting up. I was told that this tank will fill 50 – 60 balloons. At 22 balloons in it’s empty. At first I’m surprised, then I’m a little pissed. Seriously, not even 2 packs of balloons later we were out? What gives? The store is already closed and we’re over 30 miles away and the guests have just arrived. Nothing to do but work with the ones we have.
Anyways, I figure I would keep onto my heated emotions and tell them the issue when I return the tank the next day. I return the tank and tell the two ladies working there that I didn’t get nearly the amount of balloons I was told the tank would fill and that if there was anything that could be done about it. They said the best thing to do was to come back tomorrow and that they would leave a note explaining my situation. I’m a little upset that I have to go back there and that it can’t be handled over the phone but I figured okay I’ll come back the next day.
That was today. Around 9:30am I get a phone call from Joan asking me to call her back in regards to the tank. I give her a call back and she apologizes and assures me it never happened before. She then offers me a $ 20 refund. I ask if it was possible for $ 30 since the tank rental was $ 59.95 and was suppose to fill at least 50 balloons and I only got 22 out of it. She goes and sees what she can do but $ 20 is the best they can do. I agree to come by the store to have the refund issued. Honestly, I was feeling dejected. Mainly because this was for my friend’s birthday and I wanted the entire ceiling to be covered in balloons and instead they acted more like an accent. I was also wondering what measures I could take as a customer to avoid this type of incident from happening again or to anyone.
**********Off Tangent Flashback Begin**********
I even had a flashback to one of my birthdays when I brought cupcakes for the class and my teacher Ms. Otvos (yeah I remember you…) all of a sudden told all the kids to throw them away because I guess they were being too rowdy and walked around with the trash bin making sure all the kids threw away the cupcakes that I brought to celebrate my birthday. I felt awful inside and powerless and it pretty much ruined my birthday.
**********Off Tangent Flashback End**********
So I drive there during my lunch feeling kind of down. I boasted to my bf about how I got my tank there and that even though it costs a bit more at least I know it’s filled and that there’s more of a guarantee unlike all the mixed reviews I see about disposable tanks. I was so happy about it only to be sorely disappointed. I get into the lot and take a breath before going into the store to try and hide my helium emo.
Joan is there and she processes my refund quickly and efficiently. I ask her if there was anything I did that could of affected the balloon yield (how the tank was stored and what-​not) and if there was a way to check the tank in store to ensure the helium amount was correct. She assured me that the tank was checked a couple of times right before I arrived and referred me over to Bill.
Now Bill is the man that fills the tanks up. I asked my questions and he answered them all. He took me to the back where they fill the tanks and showed me his process and what he did that day to my particular tank. Joan even came back there to check on us and even asked him a question I asked her before that might possibly affect the helium in the tank. Bill offered me a sincere apology and said that he will check on the tank again to make sure there isn’t a leak and that he always asks the ladies that work in front for customer feedback to make sure that no one has any issues. Apparently I really was the first person to have such issues with one of their tanks, they were just as confused by it as I was. As we continued talking, I felt much better about the situation and they really showed that they cared and even said that they want me to come back as a customer.
He then asked me if I would be needing helium in the near future in which case, he said that if I needed to fill 50 balloons that he would make sure I have enough to fill 100 balloons. My birthday is next month so I guess I’ll have to plan to have balloons, or walk around the streets filling balloons for random kids… I mean who doesn’t love balloons?
Regardless, I went in sad and came out happy. I’ll reserve the 5^th star after my next tank of helium.

The sweetest ladies work there especially Mary and Linda. They are extremely helpful to all their customers. I would of given them 5 stars BUT, they don’t stock everything like the old owners did. No more party goods and Balloons. Gifts, Holiday items are very sparse!

I’m surprised there’s a standlone Hallmark shop. I’ve always known to my knowledge of Hallmark shops that weren’t independent and were all part of malls.
Soooo it was definitely refreshing to see a standalone store that was exceptionally stocked, and had more than enough cards to fit any situation.

Review for the post office:
Fast, friendly service. Same prices as a regular post office location. Can’t speak for other days/​times, but when I went today (Saturday mid-​afternoon) there was no line. Plus, the regular post office locations closed at 1pm on Saturday.
I asked them how they make money on the post office: they said that they get a (very) small percentage of transactions at their location. The benefit is convenience for their customers and more foot traffic.

I was outraged by the way I was treated at the post office. Bill was extremely rude. The manager Harshad treats his customers as if they don’t matter. It’s beyond me that this pace is still in business.

Hallmark on Mary serves whoever but not the customers. Bill from the post office allows himself to insult people in the most hurrendous and shocking way. He is absolutely sure he will get away with it and he is right because Harshad the owner /​manager backs him up and in turn raises his voice, speaks in the most rude way to the complaining customers and terminates phone conversations showing a genuine lack of interest in customers’ needs. A true communist island in Sunnyvale, Ca.

Post Office:
The in-​store Post Office is awesome! I had to mail a stack of magazines, and Bill told me about the BPM rate (Bound Printed Matter); it was way cheaper than first class/​parcel post rates.
I generally get here within an hour of when they open, and there have been no long lines.
The clerks I’ve encountered are friendly and helpful.
Shop:
The store has a great selection of greeting cards, ornaments, and gifts. They have sales on a regular basis. They now carry more jewelry than they used to. The store also carries Baggallini bags. The shop clerks that I’ve seen vary in terms of friendliness. Some walk right past customers without a word nor a glance, and others are quick to greet customers entering the store.
The parking lot is shared with Wells Fargo and Smart & Final.

Last two visits to drop off USPS prepaid boxes were excellent. Like I said before, I’ll drive the extra distance to avoid the line at the Fremont Post Office, which is usually a very stressful line to stand in. Bought a small can of room spray, two greeting cards, soap with a genuine US bill inside of it (great gift for kids LOL), a Hello Kitty Beanie Baby (my daughter was with me) and a gift bag.
It’s a good place to find cards or little gifts, like for kids or the women in your life. Not too many «manly» presents to choose from.
Staff was much nicer. The registers are in a different spot. They also have a new front door that doesn’t shut with a bang.

The line at this Hallmark Post Office Express is insane (at least on a Tuesday around 11am on December 10^th). It moved pretty slowly but there were only two cashiers. They had run out of some of the flat rate shipping boxes, but they have it labeled so that you can request them and you know what they carry.
The cashier I had though caught me off guard. She was pretty impatient after she couldn’t hear my initial request for another flat rate box. Although she was saying all the right things, her expression and tone was bristling with irritation. Although the other people working there seemed happy, the lady left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m just glad that I was able to get my box out.
On another note, this Hallmark store is pretty big. The aisles are pretty small though making it hard to navigate when someone else is looking at something or if you’re going to push around a baby stroller or a cart. But there are plenty of knick knacks and random things that you could buy of the Hallmark variety. It just feels pretty cramped, like a small neighborhood store.
Note: They do have a copy machine near the front of the store, on the side where the post office is located.

This place is packed with nice and also useless gifts. People are nice to help point in the right direction of the post office. I love looking at what they have, even if it is overpriced. Perfect for the person that forgot your anniversary! The mailbox is outside as well. Super easy!

They have a wide selection of cards, plus many little gift items. The line for the gift shop went pretty fast, and the people were overall friendly. The line for the postal service grew pretty quickly as I walked around the store, and I over heard the man at the counter got a little upset at a customer for not making clear about the shipping method. I didn’t hear the whole conversation, so I don’t have much say about it. It just didn’t sound pleasant.
Overall, very nice & convenient place to find cards, little gifts, and ship all in one location.

I only come here for the post office in the back of the store. It’s a little unusual passing birthday cards and stuffed animals to mail my packages but hey, there’s usually no line and friendly service.

I walked into the Encinal post office on Fremont the other day just to drop off a pre-​paid flat rate box and there was a line out the door. I felt like making an announcement telling all of them they should really be going to Michael’s Hallmark, up the street. Michael’s little U. S post office in the back corner of the store, can handle anything, and if there happens to be a line, it’s a more pleasant place to stand and wait.
Usually there are two knowledgeable and friendly people working at the mini post office and I believe there are two pick ups a day– one in the afternoon and another at 5 p.m. (the same as for the postal boxes in the front of the store).
Hallmark’s store staff are wonderful people. Enroll in the birthday club and also the Hallmark frequent buyer program to earn points. My birthday postcard arrives with a discount offer and I get occasional coupons with a large discount off a particular item.
Definitely a Neighborhood Treasure.

These guys are the epitome of stellar customer service. I don’t often come here, but when I do for stamps or something, I can’t help but be blown away by how down-​to-​Earth and helpful the employees here are. The guys who work the mail counter in the back are especially friendly and seem to really love their jobs.
It’s unfortunate because small places like these with employees who take pride in what they do are a dying breed. They get 5 stars from me.

Very happy to see a post office inside a shop conveniently near For Other Living Things, a regular stop for us! We bought stamps and mailed some things.
They’re really nice here. If you need to buy a card or gift for someone, there’s probably a good chance to find something here. It’s full of cool stuff! The post office is way in the back corner.
We may never go to the abysmally rude, long-​lined, depressing main Sunnyvale post office ever again! Thanks for the alternative!

OK now this place is filled with needless mark up items, being in the hood near the store I use them for the post office service which is closer than driving to the one on Fremont ave. Now the place is like a golf course with a double dog leg of shelf’s to navigate to the Post office service desk.
If your not careful you could elbow a few of the items and end up breaking something. But hey they have all kinds of needless markup items to look at while dropping your mail. The post office desk has stamps you can buy, boxes to ship stuff to your aunt in the klondike.
Once in a while they have mark down items outside but most of it is stuff that looks like thing from someones garage! This is a one stop shop for all things b-​day, weddings and divorces.
I say when you have the need to lick a few stamps check them out!

I had some huge 24″ round balloons that I needed a helium tank for, and did a Unilocal search for helium tank rental in Sunnyvale — and Michael’s Hallmark came up. I was surprised that they offered this service, and made a call to find out if it was true. And yes, it is! They offer tank rentals for pretty reasonable prices for several different sized tanks ranging from $ 29.95 (for 3 days) for a small tank to $ 59.95 for a large tank.
Mary helped me and she was extremely knowledgeable and worked with me to figure out what size tank I’d need based on how many balloons each tank could inflate approximately. I reserved my tank, went to pick it up and put down a $ 100 deposit on it. The Hallmark store was crammed with lots of goodies and tchotchkes — but I was on a mission, so I didn’t browse. I did feel like I was transported to a small town in the middle of America instead of in Sunnyvale — mostly due to the look of the strip mall it’s in.
All in all, it was an easy transaction, and now I know where to get my helium, and I loved the friendly service. Go Michael’s!
As a note, here are the prices for tanks and the number of balloons they fill up:
$ 29.95 — fills 100 — 9 in. balloons, 50 — 11 in. balloons
$ 59.95 — fills 450 — 9 in. balloons, 250 — 11 in. balloons
They also have a $ 39.95 tank, but I didn’t get the information for that one, though I’m sure it’s in between the lowest and highest price tanks.