Beyond the shipping box, The UPS Store is competitively priced for printing everything from stationary to banners, posters, brochures, postcards, business cards and more
By Patricia Nugent
Who knew that from its quiet and unassuming neighborhood location in Fairview Shopping Center The UPS Store has shipped everything from rare art and priceless gems to top-secret space equipment?
“We once shipped a refrigerator that went up on the space shuttle,” says owner Kim Myers.
Always smiling and vivacious, Kim brings the same sense of energy, enthusiasm and involvement she exuded while volunteering for her children’s schools, to the feeling of community at her store.
“Along with manager Michaela Ferrara, we are an active part of this community and truly enjoy helping people with their needs,” says Kim.
Ensuring Your Packages are Safe
As a leader in the shipping industry, The UPS Store has earned its reputation for reliability, speed and convenience.
Beyond just stamping “fragile” on your boxes, the trusty team of certified packing experts can help you package items to make sure they arrive perfectly intact, even if they are fragile, high value or oddly shaped.
Any item you need to send, if it absolutely has to get to its destination—an important document, a large freight shipment, a package overseas, golf clubs to your resort destination—you can trust they’ll get it there.
“And if you’d like your package to get there in one piece, our boxes are of superior quality to the ones you’d buy at a big box store,” says Kim. “They are specially designed to handle a four-foot drop and crush weight of up to 200 pounds on top.”
For added convenience, they also sell custom-sized shipping boxes and packing supplies, including tape and bubble wrap.
Can’t find your address book? No problem. The super-efficient folks at The UPS Store keep a history on every person customers have shipped to from their store.
More Than a Shipping Store
“We love the new television commercial that focuses on all the other ‘ing’ things The UPS Store does,” says Kim, “from printing to packing, notarizing, faxing, scanning, shredding, laminating, notarizing, consulting, designing, returning…and, of course, shipping, every ‘ing’ you need.”
There is a litany of helpful complementary services offered at The UPS Store that most folks aren’t even aware of.
For instance, they are competitively priced for printing everything from stationary to banners, posters, brochures, postcards, business cards and more. They also offer easy-to-use online templates so you can design your own projects and have The UPS Store produce them.
“Another increasingly popular service we offer are private mailboxes,” she adds.
“For people running small businesses and working from home, or travelers and snow birds who seek privacy and a real street address, this is the perfect solution. We accept packages from all carriers, send email or text message package notifications and offer 24 hour access.”
Online Shopping is a Snap
Although locally owned and operated, Kim says she’s thankful for all the support she receives from the national administration at UPS. Each quarter she travels to owners’ meetings to learn about the latest advancements in the shipping industry.
Responding to the skyrocketing growth of online shopping is a frequent topic at these conferences. She reports that more than 80 percent of consumers do the lion’s share of their shopping online, and that many of them purchase nearly everything, including everyday items, online so they can be directly shipped to their door.
“We’re excited to be part of the new Amazon 360 program,” she says. “We easily consolidate Amazon returns. The customer just drops them off here and we do the rest.”
And in the same vein of responsiveness, Kim is proud to report that her store is a green organization, making every effort to operate with respect to the environment.
Taking Care of the Customer
Here’s what a few of Kim’s loyal customers have to say in their five-star reviews:
“Today I ran in frazzled to drop off some prepaid postage textbooks that were due to send back. The lady I always see working the counter was beyond nice and taped and packaged it all for me and told me not to stress! Glad to have such an efficient and convenient store close by! Staff is great and store is clean and organized,” says Kinsley Smith.
“There were a few customers in front of me, but there was efficient customer service and I was in and out in five minutes. Nice that The UPS Store solved all my post office needs,” says Collin Lowry.
The UPS Store is located within the Fairview Shopping Center at 21887 Lorain Road in Fairview Park. The store is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m.; and Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. The phone number is 440-333-4877. Visit Locations.TheUPSstore.com for more information.