Out of Hand

Absolutely fantastic store! I never miss it when I am in Sausalito. It is how all boutiques should be: friendly, knowledgeable staff and stocked with beautiful, unique items. I always make a purchase and have never regretted it. This store is not to be missed!

Owners/​staff were polite, but not helpful. I bought a bracelet a week ago and wanted to return it, bc started having second thoughts… but it wasn’t possible… Their return policy is not obvious… and customers won’t find out about it «in time» ;) No returns, no money back… either they will give you a store credit or you can keep what you got :| this is kind of frustrating… and honestly leaves not the best feeling afterwards :(

I love this store. My Mom and I popped in here after seeing the cute little Rosemary Tapia oil paintings in the window. We were immediately greeted and the staff member volunteered to pull some more of the artist’s work from the back room. After selecting my painting and cruising the store my Mom and I had a lovely chat with the staff member. She was so kind, genuine and friendly. We were really enjoying our chat with her and I had to drag my Mom out of the store so she could help other customers.

After having a great experience, I felt it was necessary to write a review when I noticed the single star reviews.
I had a wonderful experience this morning. The lady who helped me out was very knowledgable about the artists and products at the store. She was authentic and pleasant to have a conversation with as she rang me up.
I bought a few pairs of Katya’s (local artist) earrings. Excited to wear them this week!

I can’t relate to the other 2 reviews. I found the store owner to be a pleasure. I’m happy that I gave my money to a small business where I bought more tea and tea related items than I planned to :)
I’ll probably go back for the wooden cufflinks too. A good store with cool goods and a cool owner.

I strongly encourage you to read the filtered reviews because they do not reflect my experience with this store. But they are certainly clouding my view of Unilocal.
I visited this store on August 15^th 2012. We were waiting for our reservation at Scoma for lunch. We live in Cambridge, MA.
What a great little gem of a store. Really interesting clothes, and sized for normal people. I had not planned to shopped and we were flying home and storage was tight, but I did. And regretting from I left behind, I had the rest shipped in.
I am going to make a special trip to this store in January when I am back in Marin. Christine has clothes with great texture but appropriate enough to wear in Cambridge.

Grumpy, grumpy owner… appears to be a common complaint among Unilocalers! She was on the phone when we entered — no greeting. When I tried one sweater and put it down, she very abruptly asked if I was buying it. I told her that I probably was but wasn’t sure. She said that she wanted to rehang it if I wasn’t buying. I asked her if she could just wait a few seconds while I quickly peruse the sale rack. The sign said that sale merchandise was an additional 15% off, but when I tried to confirm this, she again abruptly/​rudely said she can’t afford to give that on the clothing. I did make the purchase anyway (hard to resist a Pure sweater on any kind of sale). She never told me how much, and when I saw her paper/​pencil figurines and asked about the price based on my understanding of these figures, she got irritated and said, «That’s why you should wait to see your receipt.» REALLY!!! I thought the time to ask is before a card has been processed. Interestingly, she also rounded the 50% off to her benefit. My husband couldn’t believe her attitude. We were visitors to the area, and this really left a sour taste start to the day. We travel to the area every year or two, but I won’t even tempt myself by returning. The merchandise isn’t worth the angst.

I was visiting San Francisco from Orange County. My older parents were there also visiting from Hawaii. My mom grew up in the Bay Area and wanted to take a trip to Sausalito, because she loved the place when she was younger! We did some shopping and walked around and ended up at Out of Hand. It was lovely store with many nicely detailed handcrafted items.
Upon walking into the store there was no worker or owner there– myself and my mother began to browse the items. About 5 minutes into our session a lady walked in and gave us a very rude look– I actually said hello to her first– to which she responded with a short «hi». I wasn’t sure if she was a fellow shopper or what. Her customer service skills were very very minimal if she was the owner. My mother and I continued to proceed but felt under the microscope and watched while we browsed the store. I understand lifting is a concern in this economy– I worked in high end retail stores in Waikiki and Orange County, but never would have be allowed to watch someone like this. My mother saw an item for her granddaughter and picked it up to see if it was something she wanted to purchase– that same moment the female worker stormed over and said «we aren’t allowed to touch any items in the store without her help!» Very rude and unprofessional, and extremely uncalled for. There was a sign posted near the jewelry area that said a worker would help if assistance was needed– NO SIGN was posted anywhere else in the store.
With that in mind myself and my mother decided to leave and not patronize Out of Hand.
Customer service is a key component that I think this owner/​worker may have forgotten. There is nothing worse than walking into a store and being treated rudely. I WILL NEVER PATRONIZE THIS STORE AGAIN! And will be sure to let my collegues and friends that frequent the Sausalito area know of the horrible customer experience that we received. I would discourage anyone from shopping here. No wonderfully crafted item is worth that experience. The experience is what stays with you when you leave.