Berkeley Hat Company

As usual when I have a chance I go by to check was new, this time I found a great black hat very dressy. I was looking for one the same style of the gray i bought before, but this one is great, is mink from Argentina, very well made and fits great. Always a treasure chest to go by and found great hats and service. Definitely go by if you like hats.

The selection of hats is great!!!
I have come here so many times over the years and have gotten several hats here. They have any hat you could think of or want from what I have seen, in every color and most styles. They have wide brim hats, kangols, costume hats, hats, hats, and more hats.
The store itself is modest, overflowing with hats so the décor is pretty much hats. I am a «Hat fiend» and I could spend way too much time in here and find a hate for every day of the week and occasion. The price ranges from very moderate to what could be on the expensive end of head wear.
The staff is pretty friendly, and stays out of your way for the most part unless you need help or have questions.
Cheers to headwear and the Berkeley Hat company

This store has an amazing selection of hats. The young lady that helped me was very knowledgeable. She showed me several hats which she thought would meet my needs and helped me narrow down my selection. I ended up with a great hat that was well within my budget
I would not hesitate to recommend this store to anyone looking for a good quality hat at a fair price.
Hats Off (no pun intended) to a great store and staff!

Best shop in town! Got into hats in early 20s, almost a decade now, still rummaging through this shop evolving style.

We dropped in here pre YSB15 for either a pirate hat or a flamingo hat… and BHC did not disappoint!
To start off with, BHC had the most gorgeous selection of derby/​drag/​fabulousity hats. I wish I’d come here prior to the Derby YEE, I’d have gotten my fluff on nohow!
We ended up finding two fantastic pre-​made pirate hats (a little over 20 bucks each) which were WAY less than the same hats in SF at another costume shop we visited. The only negative about the hats was they did not travel well, not well at all. Equal smush, if you know what I mean.
I ended up chucking mine in Florida — but they worked for exactly what we wanted them for! And the honey looked soooo cute in his!
I’d drop by again anytime, now that they’re on our radar! :D

A great place to buy a hat. This store has bazillion choices for hats at multiple price points. There are so many styles and colors it can be a bit overwhelming. They had just what my friend and I needed for an upcoming Downtown Abbey themed party.
They will stretch your chosen hat on an old fashioned contraption. The advertised price is 1 cent but I hear that you can talk them down to free if you are a tough negotiator. I highly recommend checking it out. Go with a friend for some fun laughs.

I just want to say how much I appreciated this store. I needed two hats for the derby and they were fantastic in helping me try on just about every hat in the store 5 times (it had to be perfect ;)) I know I wore on their patience but I was happy for the help and the huge selection of hats.

Yes, they have alot of hats. They also have alot of cheap hats. They have some overpriced hats. The fact is there are alot of better hat places. I’ve bought a few hats there and that’s all I’ll ever buy there. I wont be back.

I had great service from one of the «older» ladies at the store. She had lots of suggestions about a facinator hat for my MOB outfit. The only reason that I didn’t give it 5 stars is because the facinator selection was not a big as I had hoped. Although I ended up buying one, I figured it was worth buying at only $ 24 even though there are no returns. If I find something better, $ 24 is not much to lose. Besides, I can wear it with something else since it is a neutral color (silver/​grey).

Berkeley Hat Co is a small store with a large inventory, bursting with almost any hat you could want for any occasion: every day wear, church, Halloween, holidays, theme parties, weddings and formal events, etc. It’s a narrow store and gets cramped if there’s multiple customers, but all the cool pieces are worth waiting to make your way to. B was thrilled to find newboys and Irish caps that fit his rather large head, and I was oogling all the pretty expensive formal hats on the high wall behind the counter.
The one sour note was the customer service. There were 3 older women behind the counter, and one college-​age girl on the floor. That friendly girl was super busy helping out customers, answering questions, checking prices, grabbing items they cou from the high racks, running to the back to check inventory. The counter ladies checked out customers and didn’t appear to do much else (except randomly mad mug people). I was checking out the hats behind the counter; granted I wasn’t going to purchase because I could tell they were WAY out of my price range, but one of the three women could’ve at least offered to answer questions or offer to show me something… nope. Didn’t speak to me, didn’t acknowledge my presence. Well alright, then.

Tons of hats at good prices and helpful salespeople. Just the right amount of grunge for Berkeley.

From the outside, this place is completely unassuming. You wouldn’t know that behind those doors, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of hats.
Pros:
— Wide selection of hats from trendier newsboy type caps to fancy hats that I *think* would be fit for a queen (or duchess). I went to look for a hat for a Kentucky Derby party and was surprised by the number of options I had just a week before the Derby.
— There is a wide variety of prices for said hats, but I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of more affordable options around ~$ 40.
Cons:
— The space is small, so if you are at all claustrophobic, this would be a tough shopping experience for you. You need to weave in and out of very narrow aisles to see the full selection of hats.

I stopped by last weekend. I’ve totally gotten into hats.
They have a huge selection of hats from basic skull caps to very fancy hats suitable for the Kentucky Derby, an Inauguration or some other fancy events.
I love that they have hats for all head sizes. I have a large head (more brain power, right?) and am always able to find hats that fit me. I found two cute crocheted wide headbands (one in blue & purple colors; the other in red, pink shade).
Their prices seem fair.
Fun place to secretly watch your fellow customers. Kids to adults are filled with glee
when they try on the hats.

HATS HATS HATS!
I love this place and stop here every time Im back in town. I stopped in last time to find a hat to were to the Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego for their opening day. Since its horse racing AND opening day you know I have to wear some big ridiculous hat that I would never wear again, with a fancy dress and heels of course.
I had a very specific color and style in mind, and the employees helped me dig through many many many floppy hats until I found one that I liked.
This place is great cause there are plenty of mirrors and they dont have a panic attack when you want to try them all on.
The hat was a little pricey, but the quality is great and it looked FABULOUS at the races. I totally passed for a rich girl that day, even though I have –500 dollars in my bank account…
Thanks everyone! Keep up the good work :)
PS, if you are looking for normal hats to the most random and ABSURD… this is your place to check out.

The people who run the store are kind of quirky, but if you’re looking for a unique hat, party hat, tiny hat, any kind of hat, this is the place to go!
The exchange policy is pretty good. 10 days with tag.
They use an old-​school system of bookkeeping, so make sure you have your original hand-​written receipt with you if you want an exchange.
Tip: Must leave beverages at the door.

Good selection of hat, I waited at the door to come in at 10:30 and it soon became pretty crowded. The man who helped me was nice, he checked with me if I needed anything. I finally made a decision and was about to buy 3 hats, just double checked the price that the similar looking hat was much cheaper. The owner lady next to the man immediately said, of course it’s a different hat and showed an attitude (shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes). I was in such a good mood and wouldn’t let this lady ruin it, so I decided not to comment, said ‘oh, I see’ .
She was sort of watching over the guy, doing the cashier, maybe he was new, but I felt the tension between them. So I left saying thank you both to the guy and the lady with a smile upon exit.

I don’t know who this woman owner is that everyone complains about — but when I was there the owner seemed to be a man. I had fit and style problems with a hat ordered online. Came to exchange it and ended up leaving with TWO fabulous hats. Not only that, but he personally tweaked the inside band for me until they fit perfectly. My boyfriend is a hat aficionado (he has a wall of them — fitting for any occasion or weather) and he loved it that the owner was a real hat guy.
The inventory is large for that tiny space. And there’s a section at the front of the store for Derby (as in Kentucky, not bowler) hats. They’re gorgeous. One in particular, I’d hang in my house as art.
There were three very busy employees there while we were shopping and they managed to keep a storefull of customers happy. One guy complimented a young female employee to the owner on the way out. And I saw the owner helping a young father who was buying his little girl a hat and he was just as attentive to them as he was with us.
Also, I compare prices and bargain shop and I found the prices here very, very fair.

Based on some of the Unilocal reviews it seems like people will either love this place or hate it but I’m somewhere in between.
Could customer service be better? Sure but my experience wasn’t that bad. I did have a bit of a hard time finding what I needed because of merchandise overcrowding and the amount of people in the store at the time. The store does have a very large selection of hats, which makes it fun to try to navigate your way through all the nooks and crannies of this hat maze.
After browsing for about 25 minutes I finally found two very small sections of the store that had beanies. They were mostly overpriced but I did find 1 beanie like hat for $ 17 bucks, which is the most I’ll ever pay for a beanie and I found a green velvet cap for $ 12.
Overall I did eventually find what I was looking for and was very pleased with my $ 31 purchase for 2 hats. Another cool thing is that they do stretch your hats if you buy them here but when I asked if my husband brought his own hat in for a stretching I don’t think they would do that for you… oh well.
The lady at the counter I’d say has kind of a quirky personality and I don’t think she’s intentionally being rude, she’s just trying to do the best she can. I highly recommend this unique hat shop for all your hat needs.
Hooray for BHC!!!

Best hat shop on the west coast.
Great selection of Stetsons and other high-​end fedoras.
Highly Recommended!

Whether your looking for a specific kind of hat or just want to parade your pretty face in front of mirrors modeling several looks, Berkeley Hat Company is happy to entertain purchasers and even browsers. In fact, if you’re aimlessly traipsing along Telegraph, BHC is a great store to kill time.
Goorin Bros will satisfy with stylish (albeit pricey) fedoras, but Berkeley Hat won’t sell you short on the fedora purchase either. Plus, they’ve got anything you might need for that costume party whether it’s 1808 themed or 1990.