Every Christmas, Ballard Mail & Dispatch/Sip & Ship saves my bacon.

Also every time a friend or family member celebrates a birthday, every time I come up with a mixed disc I've just got to share or every time I manage to sell off some useless junk on eBay. They correct my half-assed wrapping job; they manage to find me a shipping rate that suits my needs and my wallet; and their coffee counter makes a damned fine macchiato.

Indeed, the only thing that could induce me to forsake the Ballard M&D is the new Greenwood Mail & Dispatch, directly across the street from the Baranof Lounge. It's much bigger than the Ballard branch -- deep and high-ceilinged -- and that will make a huge difference come Christmas, when the Ballard store is more densely packed than a fruitcake. The new branch has got more PO boxes, a bigger coffee counter, more table seating and I'd even swear that it's got a better stereo.

But Christmas comes but once a year, and it's the small touches that Ballard Mail & Dispatch provides that make it such a nice place to spend some time -- its selection of neighborhood-specific merchandise, hip gifts and novelties, and letterpress greeting cards; it menu of packing and shipping services, which goes above and beyond the call; and its air of neighborhood conviviality. Nearly all of those facets have carried over to Greenwood.

I'm at the Greenwood Mail & Dispatch/Sip & Ship now, typing away at the "laptop bar" -- one of the most conscientiously designed free Wi-Fi stations I've seen. There's local art on the walls around me, and I just finished a pretty excellent macchiato. It's a feeling better than Christmas, and it's pretty cool to get that feeling outside of Ballard.

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