“She’s my encyclopedia” says a smiling customer to me.
He’s talking about Poppy Gilman, owner and sole employee at Offix Edge. Offix Edge provides a slew of services from mail and shipping to work space and mail box rentals. I stopped by Offix Edge at around 4pm and witnessed the hustle and bustle as numerous customers and mailmen came in. I watched as Poppy greeted them all by name, asking about their families or their businesses and cracking jokes about the current state of the world. She proceeded to swiftly measure, pack and ship even the most bizarrely shaped item. Poppy even helped a customer write an important email of some kind at one of the co-working computers. The room was buzzing with friendly energy and it seemed like a small community built around Poppy and the services at Offix Edge.
During a pause in the busy afternoon, Poppy gave me a little background on how she came to be so essential to all her customers. She explains that a man named Tom Nash started Offix Edge 6 years ago. Soon after that, Poppy discovered the store because her husband was trying to find an alternative to commuting to the South Bay from the Sunset for his job and started renting out an office space at Offix Edge. A couple months later, Tom decided to retire and sell his store to Poppy and her husband. When Poppy bought the business from Tom, she also started to focus more on community building and supporting small businesses. She changed the signs on the door from shipping ads to community event posters. She also provides professional services to support small businesses and decorates the store walls with local art that changes every month.
Poppy Gilman has created a small community around her. All you have to do is step into Offix Edge to witness it!
-Valentine Batra
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