I live in teh SF Bay Area and so always enjoy checking out the hat shops that are around. Having heard of Top Hatters in San Leandro I decided to drop by and see what they had to offer.
I was greeted at the door by a very vital elderly fellow who told me that he was 86 years old and had been running the business for 60 years. He had hundreds of hats in the tightly filled store and he gave me a tour continually telling me how much better his prices were than the competition (they aren't, they are comparable). He was very proud of his Borsalino which he said were the best of the best. When I asked if he thought that Borsalino was not what it used to be he insisted that they were the best and really didn't let me get a word in edgewise.
We were looking at panamas and I showed him the vintage Kennedy panama that I was wearing. It is an old hat, maybe 50 years or more and has achieved that golden color from the years and is one of my favorites. I showed him how the crown had some damage and how I had patched it at which point he took the brittle old gem of a hat and roughly FOLDING the brim with his hand insisted that it should always be handled by the brim and not the crown. I was very startled by his rough treatment of my hat and beat a hasty but polite retreat. When I examined the hat I found that the brim appeared to now have some cracks in the area that he manhandled it. I didn't feel like going in and arguing as I am sure that he would deny it so instead have decided to post here. Please beware of these people.
All I could think of when leaving was how much I miss Art Fawcett and the quality treatment that he consistantly gave me when I visited his shop in Rodeo.
I was greeted at the door by a very vital elderly fellow who told me that he was 86 years old and had been running the business for 60 years. He had hundreds of hats in the tightly filled store and he gave me a tour continually telling me how much better his prices were than the competition (they aren't, they are comparable). He was very proud of his Borsalino which he said were the best of the best. When I asked if he thought that Borsalino was not what it used to be he insisted that they were the best and really didn't let me get a word in edgewise.
We were looking at panamas and I showed him the vintage Kennedy panama that I was wearing. It is an old hat, maybe 50 years or more and has achieved that golden color from the years and is one of my favorites. I showed him how the crown had some damage and how I had patched it at which point he took the brittle old gem of a hat and roughly FOLDING the brim with his hand insisted that it should always be handled by the brim and not the crown. I was very startled by his rough treatment of my hat and beat a hasty but polite retreat. When I examined the hat I found that the brim appeared to now have some cracks in the area that he manhandled it. I didn't feel like going in and arguing as I am sure that he would deny it so instead have decided to post here. Please beware of these people.
All I could think of when leaving was how much I miss Art Fawcett and the quality treatment that he consistantly gave me when I visited his shop in Rodeo.
