Mailbox and Shipping Center relocated but still open

Customers of the Mailbox and Shipping Center have a new location to check their mail and pick up their packages following the businesses move last February.

The business is owned by Al Hudda and opened in Redmond in 2005.

“We haven’t changed our philosophy of providing the best service to the customer,” Hudda said.

This is the second time the business has had to move, both times due to their former locations being shut down for new development.

The store still offers private mailboxes, which are accessible to customers at any hour.

They are housed in a separate room, which can be accessed with a private key. They come in varying sizes.

The store doesn’t charge customers to receive packages with a rental mailbox.

These mailboxes, which are a private equivalent of a P.O. address, allow customers to have packages and mail shipped to a secure location that mail thieves can’t access.

The Mailbox and Shipping Center can provide shipping service with any of the four main providers, including USPS, UPS, Fedex and DHL.

Customers can pick which service they want and at what price and level of shipping speed suites them.

This ranges from standard mail to overnight delivery.

Hudda said he and his wife started the business in Redmond as a way to stay busy and involved with the community.

“We thought this will give us something that we can get into,” he said.

Many customers have followed Hudda after the move.

Their new location was even spotted by a customer who was driving by and let them know about it.

It is located at 8151 164th Ave. N.E., and Hudda plans on sticking it out at the new location, which used to be a Baha’i faith center.

“We got lucky and we got over here,” he said.

Hudda owned a similar business in Ballard from 1991 to 2003.

Relocation has become a common theme for small businesses in Redmond.

The Reporter talked with small business owners in May who were concerned about the future of their businesses after the Redmond Square was sold to a property development firm and Chinese investors for $31 million.

At least one business, Nara Japanese Restaurant, ended up shutting down instead of relocating, partially due to the high cost of commercial real estate in the city.

Other businesses in the Square hadn’t decided whether they wanted to relocate or shut down.