DANVILLE — Area residents have a new option when shipping items with the opening of the UPS Store on North Vermilion Street.

The store, which is located in the space formerly occupied by Deutsch Brothers Clothing, opened for business with a “soft” opening on June 23.

“We did a soft opening to help train our employees,” said Teresa Depew, store manager. “We had our official opening on July 11.”

According to Depew, the store is a franchise operation and is not affiliated with the UPS hub located on 14th Street in Tilton. The franchise is owned by Earl Gaudio and Son. The firm also has a UPS Store on Kirby Street in Champaign.

“We offer more convenient options for customers who want to use UPS for shipping,” Depew said. “The hours that the hub is open are somewhat restrictive.”

According to Depew, the store not only offers shipping by UPS but also can handle U.S. Postal Service shipments. For larger items, the store can arrange for shipment by DHL.

Not only does the store offer shipping services, it has mailboxes for rent in three different sizes. The smallest mailbox rents for $15 per month, a medium mailbox rents for $20 per month and the large mailbox rents for $30 per month.

The store also offers copy services, both black and white and color, as well as two-sided copying. Other services offered include computer services that allow the store to download large computer files and then transfer them to the customer’s computer, passport photos, lamination services, book binding, shipping supplies, notary services and fax services. The store also sells Hallmark cards.

“We do not want to be just considered a shipping store,” Depew said. “We offer so many other services to the homeowner as well as the small business customer.”

According to Depew, the North Vermilion location is perfectly suited for the business.

“We offer easy in and out access with convenient parking right in front of the store,” Depew said.

While the store is fully staffed with four employees, Depew foresees the addition of more employees for the holiday season.

“We expect to increase our hours in November and December and I would anticipate we would need additional employees to cover those hours,” Depew said. “We also will consider Sunday hours during the holiday season.”

Depew said so far business has been excellent, even with the soft opening.

The store has set Friday for its grand opening. Depew said there will be a live radio remote, free refreshments and free handouts to everyone who visits the store that day. There also will be drawings for gift certificates to the store.

Depew said the store has a motto: “We can do that.”

The UPS Store concept began in 2001 when UPS bought Mail Boxes Etc. In 2003, UPS began rebranding the some 3,000 Mail Boxes Etc. stores as UPS Stores. Today there are 6,000 UPS Stores worldwide.

UPS Stores are individually owned and operated. In 2011, Entrepreneur magazine, ranked UPS Stores as No. 1 in postal and business services.

HOURS

The new UPS Store located at 2830 N. Vermilion Street, Suite B, is open 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.