THOUSAND OAKS : New Post Office in Mall to Open Friday

The new post office in Thousand Oaks’ Janss Mall lacks the high ceilings and imposing marble architecture of older postal stations.

Instead, the office, which has its grand opening at 10 a.m. Friday, resembles a shop. It has a self-service section where customers can weigh packages, purchase the right postage and mail their packages without standing in line at a service window.

“Walking into it, it looks more like maybe a Hallmark store, more of a friendly retail presence,� said Terri Bouffiou, a postal service spokeswoman.

In addition to the self-service area, the new Conejo Village Station also contains collectible stamps on display, packaging material for sale and about 1,000 postal boxes available for rent.

Postmaster Doug Leeds and the Thousand Oaks Chamber of Commerce will host Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new post office, which replaces a smaller, older station at the mall.

As part of the grand opening, Leeds will cut a cake decorated like the new Marilyn Monroe stamp. The station’s first 100 customers will receive “Happy Birthday Marilyn� buttons with the stamp design printed on them. Conejo Village Station workers will also give the buttons to any customer with a June birthday.

The station, located in the Janss Mall at 215 North Moorpark Road, will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Customers can also use the post office boxes and self-service areas between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.