LAFAYETTE, CALIFORNIA – A local office store that had long served the Lafayette community, and had a prominent Downtown location, has officially closed.
There’s good news, though, about what ultimately happened here.
Lafayette Pack and Ship + Print used to be situated right in downtown, and has now shut down.
When the store opened in late 2015, local news coverage described it as an independent shop run by Ian and Sue McKinlay at 3559 Mt. Diablo Blvd., offering shipping, copy and print services, passport photos, office supplies, mailbox rentals, and a more personal alternative to the chains.
A 2016 profile said they had decades of shipping-industry experience, had moved from Denver, and opened the Lafayette store in December 2015 after building out the former Novina Jewelry space next to Amarin Thai.
The shop offered FedEx, USPS, and DHL options, plus printing, greeting cards, gift wrap, and mailbox rentals.
For over a decade, it served the downtown community. Now, though, Lafayette Pack and Ship + Print appears to have passed the reins to another operator.
The Bay Area Telegraph learned that the business was sold to a local operator of the UPS store. Lafayette’s UPS store has thus moved down the block, taking over the former Lafayette Pack and Ship + Print space.
Indeed, the location now displays a temporary banner for the UPS Store.
UPS’ own location pages help explain the transition. UPS still lists “LAFAYETTE PACK AND SHIP” as an authorized shipping outlet at 3559 Mt. Diablo Blvd., with the old Pack and Ship phone number, 925-284-7444. On that same UPS page, the nearby full-service UPS Store is listed at the exact same 3559 address, with a different phone number, 925-284-1377.
At the same time, official UPS Store and Lafayette Chamber pages now identify The UPS Store at 3559 Mt. Diablo Blvd. as the current business there, with Arun Nayar listed as the contact. Those pages advertise the location as a full-service print, shipping, mailbox, shredding, and notary shop.
That move has apparently been challenging for some locals with mailboxes at the former UPS store. They now need to update their physical address on all their bills, registrations, etc.
For a local business, though, it seems to spell a positive ending–an acquisition, not a closure. And for patrons of the local UPS shop, it means a larger, more central location.
You can mail your package and then stop in across the street at Abe’s Cafe for a tasty empanada!
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