Subscribe
to the E-Star!

A Hallmark Anniversary

Carmen George

(Updated: Thursday, April 14, 2011, 5:50 PM)

For David and Linda Dorsey, owners of Dorsey's Hallmark in Oakhurst, Hallmark is a part of the family.

Dorsey's Hallmark celebrates its 20th anniversary Wednesday, April 20 — two decades in which all three of their children have worked at the shop, and most recently, their 6-year-old granddaughter Paige.

"Paige says, ‘I want to be a ballerina and work at Papa's store,' says the Dorsey's oldest daughter, 32-year-old Christine Ferbrache of Bass Lake, about her 6-year-old.

Paige handed out chocolates to customers at Hallmark in October. Ferbrache, now a mother of two, started working at Hallmark after school when she was 12, and still works at the store part-time on weekends.

"I think they've done an amazing job keeping up with the times and all of the trends we go through and the way they've been able to be a big part of our community," Ferbrache said. "They do so much and help all around town, and they've been able to do that and keep a good relationship between each other — it's a big accomplishment."

Before they bought Dorsey's Hallmark, Dave worked in Southern California on the space shuttle program as a logistics manager for Rocketdyne, and Linda was a stay-at-home mom. After visiting Dave's parents at their new home in Mariposa in the late '80s, the couple soon fulfilled their dream of owning a business together. Dave and Linda moved to Oakhurst in 1991 and purchased Hallmark, then located in the Raley's shopping center, when their children were 7, 10 and 12.

The next year they upgraded the Hallmark card store to a Hallmark Gold Crown store, which offers more exclusive products.

"We like to think we have a card for every occasion and we really do," Dave says. "What we enjoy the most is being a part of how people express themselves."

Dorsey's Hallmark moved to its present location in the Vons' shopping center in 1994. Ferbrache remembers being hired by Vons to cheer at the opening of the shopping center with her YHS cheerleading team, while her parents, still moving into their new location at the time, watched with pride.

"This was a great place to raise my children," Dave says.

For loyal Hallmark customers like Franci Pasley of Oakhurst, Dorsey's Hallmark has helped make the mountains a better place for her family.

"You don't get nicer people," says Pasley as Dave gave a balloon to her 3-year-old grandson in the store last month. "They are sweethearts and so are all their employees."

"It's developing relationships with people in this town that supports us" and stressing customer service with employees, says Dave, that has kept the business going for two decades.

The store has 3,000 active Hallmark Gold Crown members, and has employed more than 40 people since they opened, Dave says. On average, the store sees about 100 customers a day, with about 200 to 300 customers a day during peak seasons, including Christmas, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day.

"We couldn't have kept doing it without this community," Linda says. "If you don't have a customer, you don't have a business."

Cheryl Montecino, a previous resident of Coarsegold who moved to Virginia three years ago, came into the store last month to visit Dave and Linda. They have "customers for life," she says.

"When you come here, they just capture you," Montecino says. "You may come in depressed, but you'll leave happy."

The Dorsey's make the shop feel like "welcome home" every time you walk in, she says.

"They are business owners that are like family — it makes me want to cry," Montecino says, as tears began to fall. "I miss my Hallmark store."

"I think that's what drew us to the area — the small town feel," says Dave as Montecino left. "You get to be in touch with people."

"They know what I like. They take care of people," says Bass Lake resident Carol Atwood, a member of the local chapter of Hallmark's Keepsake Ornament Club. She enjoys her "dose of Dorsey's" at least once a week. "In today's world, that's become a rare commodity."

"They have unique things, absolutely different than all the other stores in Oakhurst," says Oakhurst resident Carol Olson, who comes in multiple times a month to get gift and craft ideas for her grandchildren.

"The biggest joy we have is just working with customers and friends," Dave says. "That gives us the most satisfaction."

For Dave and Linda, "Hallmark moments" aren't just on commercials. They see them every day and look forward to more in the years to come.

One of their most memorable centers on a woman who came into their store in December of 2009 to buy a recordable book, "The Night Before Christmas," for a friend dying of cancer so she could record her voice for her children.

Unfortunately, they sold all copies of the book two months earlier.

The next day, a woman who overheard the conversation about the sold-out book had her husband drop off a copy at the store for the woman, and refused to take money for it or leave a name.

"That's what it's all about," Dave says. "That's a true Hallmark moment."