Urban Forest

Free Christmas Gift Wrapping of items you purchase there… they are all really nice and helpful so you get the right gift. Lots of unique and fun stuff. The owner features a color every month, that if you find items that are themselves that color you get it for 20% off! Its awesome, December is red and green, the item must be red and green, that included a little dragoon finger puppet I got for a friend and the woman behind me got sage wrapped in red ribbon for 20% off too. It’s like a scavenger hunt!

Pretty OK store…
To be honest I wonder how they stay open, though, because both times I’ve stopped in here the young female employee working the counter was bored & not very helpful…
The gifts were pretty cool, though they didn’t really have any astrology stuff which [for what kind of store it is] you’d think they would!
So, –1 star for the blah vibe in there (due to the service) and –1 star for no astrology items. Boo!
3 stars means they’re alright.

what a great store, the prices may be a little higher, but so is the quality of their products, and with so many interesting items in one place, it’s totally worth it. plus, the owner and the girl at the counter were super nice and very helpful. the owner gave me recommendations without any pressure. i found what i was looking for AND it was on sale (isn’t that the best?). FYI, everything GREEN is 20% off during march.
handmade candles, incense, folkmanis puppets, ed gorey books… awesome!
haven’t had experience with any framing, but 5 stars for the retail portion of the store.

I have to agree with Matt L. — their jewelry and knick-​knacks are cute, but they did a horrible job on a simple framing job, and, while her young employee is pleasant enough, the owner is probably the worst customer service person I’ve ever encountered.
I placed an order for 2 very basic black wood frames (cost was approximately $ 160 for one 16×20 and one 16×32), and received a call a couple of weeks later to come pick them up. First, the owner «forgot» to include the plastic spacers that she had already charged me $ 16 for. I had to insist upon receiving them after showing her a copy of my original receipt. Then, as I was leaving the store, I realized that she had not included any way to hang the frame on a wall. After an unpleasant conversation (during which the owner informed me that I was «causing her trouble»), she basically threw a handful of wire and hardware at me. I had dared to hope that she might actually put the hanging wire on for me, but no.
When I got the frames home, and after spending a half hour installing the hardware to hang them, I discovered that the (supposedly) 16×32 wood frame was a full ¼ inch too long, while the glass inside was the right size. So, there is a visible gap between the frame and the top of the glass which leaves the print exposed to air, moisture and light. Also, the glass itself still has the manufacturer’s serial number printed on it! The black numbering is clearly visible on top of the art.
Finally, about half of the little metal pieces on the back of the frame that are supposed to hold the art in place broke off as soon as I touched them. The remaining ones are too small, so that they do not even come close to holding the art snugly in the frame.
Since my art is pretty cheap and I can’t bear the thought of ever speaking to the owner again, I decided to jerry-​rig the frame and hope nobody notices. Still, I’m incredibly disappointed at the quality of their frames and the service I received. I’m generally a nice person and rarely have confrontations with anyone, but that woman is truly deserving of my wrath. I won’t be returning to Urban Forest.

OK, I’m not speaking to the wide variety of chatchkas they carry in the store. I understand that people find them cool, and that it’s one of the appeals of the place. This two star review specifically deals with having asked them to frame a painting of ours. Maybe it’s my fault, and I should have gone to a place that specializes more in framing, but they advertise it as one of their services, so when they do a poor job I’m gonna Unilocal about it.
When we brought our painting in, they were helpful in picking out a nice frame. The cost was over $ 400, which for a simple frame was clearly more than I had planned to spend. I certainly take some of the blame, because I could have said no and left, but I didn’t. I left a $ 100 deposit, and I was told it could be ready by the next weekend. I said we would be away that weekend, but if it could be ready the following weekend that would be great. She said no problem, and that they would call us when it was ready, and they would deliver it to our nearby house. That sounded good, and we left.
Fast forward to a full month later. We realize that we’ve never heard from them, so we stop into the store on a Saturday to see what’s up. She says, «Oh, I thought you were away and you were going to call when you got back.» No, that was very definitely not what we said. But OK, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt the first time, and assume that she misunderstood. Without apologizing, she said she could do it by Tuesday, and she’d give us a call.
Fast forward to two Saturdays later. Again we have not heard from them. We go into the store again, and she takes us into the back and shows us that the painting is framed and ready to go, and doesn’t it look nice? Yeah, it looks fine, but thanks a bunch for calling us to tell us it was done, and to arrange a delivery time. Whatever. We schedule to have it delivered the next morning at 10:30.
Fast forward to the next morning, which is today. By 11:30 we have not seen or heard from them. We call the store, and they admit to having completely forgotten about us. A half hour later our painting is dropped off amidst an apology.
Apology accepted, but we were in the store the day before, giving our address and phone number and being told that we would hear from them in the morning. It’s pretty sad to think that in less than 24 hours we were forgotten completely. And for a third time, we had to be the ones that called them.
In general, one of my favorite things about living in Alameda is the family-​owned stores, and the friendliness and good service that usually comes with going to them. Sadly, this store was a clear exception. When you are a «local» store, and you treat your local customers the way that they did, it really makes you wonder what they are thinking.
At long last all is well, and we have our painting. But given that it took two full months to get it, and given that we never once received any contact from them, despite three separate times when we were told we’d be called, it’s safe to say that we won’t be returning anytime soon.

A great gift shop. My room mates and I get each other gifts for «just because» all the time here. They always have some thing FANTASTIC for a unique gift.

Easily my favorite boutique in Alameda. Wonderful staff, really nice, fun and thoughtful merchandise. Sort of «new age» but not really. Go there all the time.
If you haven’t been there go in the late afternoon when their bubble machine is on, SO KEWL!!!

This incarnation of Urban Forest sells tarot cards and hand dipped incense! I purchased three tarot decks here as part of a «red, white and blue» Independence day sale. Unlike Webster Street, this location does not do framing.

For postcards, puppets, whimsical toads, frogs and all things dragon this is the place. They recently moved into the space that used to be «Vignettes». At Christmas they usually carry a selection of extraordinary ornaments too.