Berkeley Typewriter

I brought my Brother printer in for installation of a new fuser unit. Although I’m good with simple repairs, I didn’t want to tackle this one. Berkeley Typewriter has been in the same location for at least 40 years. Joe the owner exemplifies the best in small business. Personable, friendly, and absolutely capable. He’s honest in his evaluation of your equipment. Interestingly, I had worked in another office in the same building 35+ years ago and it was déjà vu to enter the shop. I think they should charge an entry fee for its museum-​like interior. Yet, they work mostly on modern equipment nowadays. If you do have a vintage typewriter that you need fixed, Joe has the depth of knowledge to do that too. Highly recommended.

A great, honest business with good prices and customer service.

We bought a vintage 1970s portable typewriter at Alameda Point Antiques Faire. It was in working order but needed a ribbon. Berkeley Typewriter hooked me up! I had a serial number for the machine + an iPhone photo of the guts and I went home with a new ribbon for under $ 15. Typewriter works, one stop personal shopping, no BS!
P. S. If you love vintage typewriters, they have a lovely selection of reconditioned non-​electrics in the front of the store — Lots of Royals but other brands, too.

Bought an IBM Selectric II back in 1988, which has been in storage for the past 10 years or so. Was cleaning out my warehouse and tried to start it but it was dead. Decided to try to get it fixed (for sentimental reasons) and after doing a little research on Unilocal decided to take it to Berkeley Typewriter. Brought it in on Sat and it was repaired on Tuesday by Cesar.
Checked it out in the shop. It started up right away, motor sounded like it should and all of the keys functioned properly. They told me that they rebuilt the motor, fixed the clutch and gave the typewriter complete cleaning. Cost was $ 200 (including a 90 day warranty). It’s only worth about that much but it was worth it to get it running again. Parking on University was easy but it’s metered, so keep an eye on the time. Joe (the owner) also carried it out to the car for me, which was a bonus.
So, now it’s back in my home office and instead of handwriting a note (my handwriting is atrocious), I can just type one out w/​o having to turn on my computer and print one out.
Much quicker and very retro.

Fixed a typewriter that’s been in the family for at least 50 years which was broken during a recent move. $ 75 and one week later it’s good as new. Thanks Berkeley Typewriter!

The reason I am such a satisfied customer is that the man fixed my Brother MFC J430W in two hours, for $ 50. Brother printers work great right up until they don’t. This is the second one in a row that suddenly started grinding its paper feed wheels and creating paper jams, just for fun. After unjamming it 10 times I gave up and decided it was broken, that it had died the identical death of my last printer. Then I remembered that I had just spent $ 75 on new ink cartridges, and you KNOW that when you get a new printer it wants different cartridges. So, Berkeley Typewriter kept a machine out of the waste stream and saved me the cost of a new printer and new ink.

I dropped off my printer in the weekend, and it was ready on Monday. When I picked it up, Joe took the time to show me a few tricks to ensure print quality and prevent jamming.
Parking was easy. Joe brought out a cart to help transport the printer.
Joe was frienfly and honest. He gives good customer and fast service. It’s nice to have a shop like his in the neighborhood.

Reason for visit: Looking for a typewriter
Visit date: February 25, 2015
First time? Yes.
I’m in the market for a functional typewriter so I decided to give Berkeley Typewriter a try. I was welcomed into the store and told the worker what I was looking for. He was eager to show me what they had in stock and was able answer all of my questions. As expected, the typewriters here are on the pricer side ($ 200+) and a bit out of my budget, but they all work and are in good condition.
Berkeley Typewriter is not just a typewriter store. They also have printers and offer repair services.

I was recommended by a friend– Joe helped me out by telling me I was better off not repairing my eBay-​purchased Underwood, and instead buying a new typewriter. He showed off a number of models he had and offered me a deal, and even when I said I wasn’t in the market to buy another typewriter today, he was super helpful and walked my very heavy Underwood out to my car. Three cheers for good people.

It is refreshing to go to a place you fully trust, What a great store. Super friendly, professional and specially honest service. Amazing selection of typewriters and they do repairs. Highly recommend it.

This place is amazing the gentleman that owns is wonderful. Our 10 year old granddaughter asked. for a manual typewriter. She loves school and loves to.write. looked at many places didnt feel good about any of them. After speaking to owner we drove from Modesto to see what was available. He has incredible stock and all machines work. better than any I learned on in the 1950’s. We got her a. beautiful portable in a case for a. very fair price and much better than shopping online. Plus he gives a complete one year warranty. Wonderful experience best place ever.

We were directed to this repair shop by Canon tech support.
Our Canon MG5420 that kept displaying a paper jam signal, but there weren’t any pieces of paper visible.
The repair guys asked us about the warranty (e.g., when was it purchased, from where), had us fill out some paperwork, and then took it to a side area to run a diagnostic. The diagnostic confirmed the same paper jam error. The repair guys started tinkering with it – using a flashlight to check all the crevices, removing components to double check it there were any paper bits lodged in them, et cetera. Ultimately it turned out to be a small paper piece lodged deep in the rollers. After removing the paper, they re-​assembled the printer, ran another diagnostic, and then did a few test prints for good measure.
Total time spent was about 30 minutes. Would definitely go here again.

Phone conversation: 9÷16÷14
Me: «What price range to repair an HP Printer Photosmart?»
Berk. Typewriter Guy: «You pay $ 25., We take a look…»
Me: «What price range would we be talking?»
Guy: «I dunno…»
Me: «What price Range…$ 1000.00?»
Guy: «Not $ 1000.0…I dunno…»
Me: Exasperated sigh… Dial tone (I hung up).
Wow Guys You just might want to take Customer Savvy Effective communication 101.
If your prospective customer is deciding whether to bother to repair a printer (and carry it in) when you can buy a new printer for reasonable ya might want to give a reasonable answer.
The VERY next place I called was professional and gave me a clear price range. AND stated their up front repair fee went toward the repair.
(Mr. I dunno didn’t even state this…

I went here for the first time after getting my typewriter. The red part of the ribbon was dragging and smudging on each line.
Joe asked me if I needed the red, and after telling him that I didn’t, he replaced the whole ribbon (he’d serviced my machine prior to me receiving it as a gift) for free. Turns out he’d re-​inked the ribbon too heavily and it was oversaturated. However, I don’t know that using the red really would’ve come in handy.
I was in and out in ten minutes, and he didn’t charge me.
The good: great service, quick.
The bad: hours are business hours, closed on Sunday, limited hours on Saturday. Kind of tough to get in if you have a 9 – 5 job.

it’s amazing that such craftsman are still around in this day and age. Berkeley Type fixed my old typewriter at a very reasonable cost and restored the action of its carriage and the keys. my Olympia typewriter now types smooth as butter. thanks for the great work guys!

I brought in a recent antique-​store bought Remington to be serviced. Cesar, the very nice gentleman who helped me, was really awesome and accommodating (I had driven from the opposite side of the bay and forgot my license & debit card… and no cash). I was given an estimate $ for my machine. A $ 25 deposit is required at time of drop off.
My typewriter was fixed within a day. I purchased my Remington from a local antique store and it was is in near-​mint condition. For the amount I paid for the cleaning, lube and ribbon, I probably saved about a good $ 90 – 100 from what refurbished typewriters would cost me. Berkeley Typewriter does sell refurbished typewriters, but beware, these are ‘antiques’ and very few working typewriters will not be cheap (I was told the ‘cheapest’ portable typewriter would start around $ 250). These are refurbished beauties (example: glossy red or orange Olivetti machines) and sometimes hard to come by, especially machines in good condition.
Both Joe and Cesar had been absolutely helpful, both are knowledgeable, and again accommodating for my situation. My typewriter was finished within 24 hours, but that could be because the machine was already in excellent condition.
Machine parts and ribbon are becoming scarce, so time may be involved on your machine. There are only a handful of these businesses in the Bay Area and I have enjoyed doing business with Berkeley Typewriter.

I have an antique typewriter that need little fixing my friend found this place that sells antique typewriter. so i called because mine was out of carbon and needed something to boost it up and spoke with a lady on the phone she had a sweet voice and told me to come up and bring it in when i get a chance so i did!
the gentlemen that works there is also nice and absolutely knows everything about these antique and more. He immediately looked at it. He fully restored it and it looked almost brand new, i thought it was someone else’s. its amazing how these elegant machines last so long and in good working condition.
Now i have it, in front of my living room and added beautiful piece. when i have people come over, they are amazed and ask if it’s working i said go and try it. i’m really thankful for this place and the person that fix it

Berkeley Typewriter is a funky, wonderful little hole-​in-​the-​wall-​type store. Joe & Jesse are knowledgeable and friendly, and they do printer repairs well and quickly. I will go back there, even when my warranty expires!

I’m thrilled to see actual typewriters come back into vogue these days, so I want to make sure everyone takes proper care of their beauties. This is the place. I’ve brought in several machines old enough to be my grandfather and they’ve all come back to me in excellent condition, ready to go. The oldest beast I have was missing a few teeth and was fitted so neatly with replacements you’d hardly notice.
I want to see the cafes filled with folks hammering away on noisy old typewriters, ink on their thumbs and a billowing cloud of onion skin pages filling the air!

These folks are nice and enthusiastic, pleasurable, and capable. Lots of really nice refurbed typewriters. They charge a deposit of $ 25 to leave a machine for an estimate, but not for typewriters. The explanation is people always come back for their typewriters, but rarely for very broken printers.
My typewriters look and work beautifully.