The owner of a small San Francisco gift shop is facing a challenge as another store with the exact same name has opened up nearby, leading to confusion among her customers.
The two shops, located just two miles apart, are caught in an identity crisis, with even Google getting mixed up and adding to the confusion. This situation seems to have no immediate resolution in sight.
This mix-up has resulted in customers being bewildered, Uber drivers having to navigate unexpected routes, and delivery trucks mistakenly dropping off goods at the wrong store.
On one side is post.script., a vibrant, whimsical gift shop in the Fillmore District. Founded by Chandler Tang in 2019, the store is a haven of colorful glassware, quirky candles, greeting cards, and home goods.
On the other side, there’s Postscript, a chic café and market in Jackson Square that serves up coffee, artisanal eats, but unfortunately for Tang, also sells some eerily similar home goods, books, and candles.
Customers appear to be also getting confused. Last weekend, Becca Kanik and her friends were all set for a shopping spree at post.script. but ended up at Postscript instead, thanks to a small but crucial GPS error.
The moment they stepped inside the sleek, minimalist café instead of the colorful, gift-filled wonderland they were expecting, they knew something was off.
‘I ordered a lavender latte instead of buying a scented candle, so I guess the trip wasn’t a total loss,’ Kanik joked to The San Francisco Standard.
But for Tang, the mix-up and dozens of others like it, is no laughing matter.
‘Our image and reputation is out of our hands because of the similar names,’ Tang said. ‘We feel like we’re being erased.’
Since Postscript opened in 2023, Tang’s shop has been bombarded with mistaken tags on Instagram with everything from visitors raving about a matcha latte to customers praising a ‘delicious’ smoothie that she definitely doesn’t sell.
But then came the real kicker: when she visited the other Postscript, she found that in addition to their trendy café fare, they were also selling goods that she claim infringe on her own shop’s trademarks – candles, greeting cards, books, and home décor.
Tang has since hired a lawyer and sent multiple cease-and-desist letters, but nothing has changed.
Now, she’s taking it to the court of public opinion with a petition demanding that Postscript either change its name or stop selling products she holds trademarks for.
Over at Postscript, co-owner Gina Peterson argues Tang is no innocent victim in the retail tug-of-war.
Her café holds its own trademark on food items, which also includes chocolate.
Post.script also sells seasonal chocolates and toffee.
‘We’re hesitant to take action,’ Peterson said in an email to The Standard, ‘because we want to support small businesses whenever possible.’
But Tang believes that it is not just about confusion over the store’s names but about power.
Postscript’s owners, Gina and Stuart Peterson, are not struggling entrepreneurs but connected to Artis Ventures, a major venture capital firm.
They bought the Jackson Square building for a $15 million and recently upgraded their New York digs from a condo to a $27.5 million townhouse.
Meanwhile, Tang claimed her bootstrapped business is fighting just to keep their online presence from being swallowed up by a bigger, shinier version of itself.
‘We’ve received numerous phone orders and messages about smoothies, complaints about coffee, and even a milk delivery,’ Tang explained to DailyMail.com. ‘I had to explain to the delivery guy that I definitely don’t need a giant crate of oat milk.
‘I grew up in San Francisco and come from a family of small business owners. People have called me to ask if our yogurt is ‘gluten-free’ and if we will deliver salads.
‘We asked the other business to publish a phone number because we were getting all the calls. They didn’t even have a phone number listed online. We still get the calls though,’ Tang explained.
‘We just want our name back. Simple as that. The cafe lists ‘community’, ‘transparency’, and ‘nothing to hide’ in their mission statement. I don’t see those values reflected here.
‘We sell cards and notebooks – so we landed on the name ‘postscript.’ I’m curious how the coffee shop chose the name,’ Tang said.
The confusion also exists online with Google only adding to the chaos.
Tang says her shop’s search rankings have taken a nosedive since Postscript opened, with AI-powered search results now mashing the two businesses together.
One query showed Postscript’s café hours next to her shop’s address.
The shop recently posted on Instagram: ‘We need your help! Customers are confusing locations, we’re losing sales, and to make it worse, they’re selling products we trademarked. We’ve tried to resolve this quietly, but they refuse to stop.
‘It’s about protecting small, independent businesses from being overshadowed by well-funded businesses,’ her campaign states.
DailyMail.com has approached the owners of both establishments for further comment.
