Davis Copy Shop

A view of Davis Copy Shop showing the 3rd & University Poles

In May 2007, Navin's Copy Shop changed their name to the Davis Copy Shop.
Says the management: "We made the change in order to associate ourselves more with the City of Davis and the UC Davis campus. We have not changed ownership or management, so you will still receive the same quality of service that we have provided over the past 26 years." (This is disputed by the self-claimed son of the original Navin, who says ownership changed hands in 1999. See comments.)

This copy shop is located a block away from the north-east edge of campus, near Social Sciences. It was correctly pronounced Na-VEENS. Many freshmen, cursed with heavy-accented professors, hunt for "Navin's Coffee Shop" with little luck. Bring your checkbook or cash - the line for credit cards is usually at least twice as long at the beginning of each quarter.

This is the main (although not the only) place for buying readers, printed lab manuals, test answer keys, or any other photocopied material needed for classes. Readers and other copy goods are most often sourced here because they supposedly have the quickest turn-around time. That means a teacher can procrastinate longer and still get it done here. However, their readers may be more expensive than at other places.

Comments:

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They are always very brusque to customers. The owners stand at the cash register and say "next" while rapping their fingers on the counter with a frown, you step up and they yank your ATM card out of your hands and swipe it and then yell "next" again and pushes you to the side while you are waiting for your receipt. Such a nice friendly place.... Really, they are just trying to get you in and out as quickly as possible. This is a positive when you consider how many people have to go through there and buy readers. The younger employees, often students themselves, are on the whole much kinder to the customer while still being expeditious. Perhaps they sympathize more with students in need of a little customer service.

• I have had decent experiences with Navins. They weren't rude to me when I had to exchange a class reader they printed incorrectly for a different one. They let me exchange it no questions asked. - JenniferChu

• As the co-manager of Navin's I apologize if some feel that they have had a "rude" experience. It is our goal to provide fast, efficient service. If you think about it..when a professor informs a class of 50+ that they have to purchase a reader and about 40 of those students all walk over to Navin's at the same time..now multiply that by the over 200 classes that we provide course packets for..It can get extremely congested so the owners try to speed up the line so you don't have to wait in line forever. Every bookstore is busy at the beginning of each quarter and they all do their best to minimize the wait time for students. I would also like to address the issue of price. Navin's is very competitively priced. In fact we have not raised our prices for 7 years. We also offer the cheapest self-serve copy rate in town (.04/copy) compared to Kinko's (.08/copy) or compared to the UCD Library (.10/copy). The price of the reader is often dependent on the number of pages/images, copyright issues, and finishing services. I would appreciate the author of the general description to contact me so I could give a more accurate account of what "goes on" at Navin's Copy Shop. (To my knowledge, Navin's Copy Shop was never contacted about giving a description to davis wiki)- MichaelVanderArend
  

• Some businesses will only describe themselves in a positive way and it's not always the most useful information. If you feel that this page is incomplete, please add the missing info. Few pages have been edited by only one person and people add what they know. Since you're the co-manager, you'd be one of the best people to add information to this wiki page. - MarieHuynh
  

• The $0.04/copy rate is somewhat misleading. You only get it if you purchase $25 worth of copy cards up front. - AlexKarner

• I've had good experiences with them as well. They do try to get in you in and out very quickly, and often succeed at doing so. Usually pretty busy (which means good business for them). - AndrewLeonard

2005-10-03 19:25:02   I went early in the day and they were really nice. I liked the music they were playing. —ChristyMarsden

2006-09-26 17:49:17   anyone know if they can laminate? —JessicaRuygt

2006-10-02 21:19:49   I went in today when it was very busy and my opinion of Navins has changed. There were a ton of people, yes, even a line to the curb next to Roma, but I don't think the people at the cash registers had to be so rude. I understand they're trying to keep things speedy, but they pushed me and the guy behind me into each other as we attempted to write checks, along with our stuff and didn't really give us the time of day. The student workers were nice and no problem there, but the checkers, who were older, weren't very nice at all. It's a shame since I already hate the fact that it's so damn expensive (and this may, or may not, be just a Navin's thing. It's just expensive.) —ChristyMarsden

2007-04-13 11:24:36   they should update their hours of operation. —PorkFoo

2007-05-21 01:57:30   I really hated this place. There were a couple of comments combined and were 'integrated' into the main article. Someone moved it back below the comment line. But it was more than one wiki users comment. I remember several classes where people in discussion sections (or in labs) would recommend the other copy shops over Navins. That infamous woman used to drive me and my friends absolutely bonkers, heck, people in my classes! It felt like *everyone* knew who she was. The "NEXT" thing, and so pushy and trying to rush everyone - when busy, but even when there was only two other people in there with me. What the heck, lady? And get such an evil glare if I used my credit card, I was worried that she had actually snapped it once. There were a couple employees that seemed a thousand times friendlier in comparison, and I think most of them were also college students. I totally agree with the comment left by CM back in October, and I feel like they had that kind of service for at least a couple of years. —EdWins

2007-06-10 17:19:49   Hi, I am new to the Wiki and just want to add that the info at the top of this page is incorrect. They have indeed changed ownership/mgt back in 1999, when the "original" Navin known sold the place and it was bought by the same guy who owns Davis Textbooks/"Fast n' Sleazy"/et al. It is misleading to say that people receive the same quality of service since it is not, and granted I might take it somewhat personal since Navin is my dad and he built a name and pride on good customer service/good relations with the community. Considering the fact that I unfortunately overheard someone last night screaming "This place f***in overcharged me..." as they kicked and destroyed the new Davis Copy Shop sign pictured above, this might be more relevant... —NamitJain

2007-06-10 17:28:37   I went once when they were having a slow day and they're really nice when they're not rushed. It's a quaint little place. —GregWebb

2007-11-07 19:29:01   Hmm... they are very pleasant to faculty, which doesn't excuse not being pleasant to the paying customer. Is the owner still local? I'd like to give my business to a place that's locally owned and operated, has fast turnaround, is convenient for students, and has reasonable prices for readers. Does Navin's/DCS still fit this bill, or are there better options? —BethFreeman

While biking downtown I saw the owner of Navin's/Off Campus Bookstore [or one of the head cheeses] in his new ride...what an absolute crackup. Long story short, my reader dollars are helping finance one of those shiny Range Rovers perched atop ghetto candy-ass chrome wheels. The guy looks about 40 years too old to be driving it...or was it a Christmas present for one of the kids? Laissez Faire! I'm not intentionally being bullish- on the contrary posting here was one of the first things that popped in my head upon seeing this dude; especially after reading about the Davis Fortune Teller's yellow hummer. —JeffreyOropeza

2007-12-21 11:15:17   I went to grad school in Davis for 5 years. I had my dissertation bound through them, and it turned out great. I couldn't have been more satisfied. When I needed more copies, I called them from across the country and they helped me to track down my original order (almost a year later) and reproduce it a couple more times for my new copies. They have great customer service. Who cares what kind of car the owner drives? All you guys giving bad reviews should compare them to Kinko's. That place is terrible no matter which way you slice it. The night people there can't communicate with normal people, period. From my experience in 5 different cities, every Kinko's is like that. For you corporate America-hating people who despise Range Rovers and have the luxury of still living in Davis, stick with the locals, Navin's. —JDCarter

2008-04-13 23:03:54   What are the policy's on asking for a reprinted section in a reader? I've tried desperately to read a passage from a reader required by my course and the copy quality is very poor. I understand that it is sometimes difficult to produce a perfect or even a near perfect copy from a book, however on the left hand pages the words are cleanly and completely cut off, whereas on the right hand side, the shadow from the fold is inhibiting my ability in the same manner. Quite frankly I find this unacceptable and am surprised that this reproduction passed any sort of inspection. I understand that the employees may be under a lot of stress to meet the needs of students and their respective classes, or that it may have been the professor who provided the master copy (as opposed to the book itself) of the excerpt in question, but I feel it is only fair that quality go hand in hand with any product I purchase. —DirtDiver

2008-04-22 00:53:10   i had a reader with a similar problem- a few pages were copied from a text and the part between two facing pages was completely dark and difficult to read- but i took it back to the shop and they compared it to the professors original copy that they were given and found that the originals were of similar quality... they advised me to contact the instructor, because the instructor had the original text... so i did, and the instructor was able to give me a clean copy... i had another problem with a reader where a few pages were cut-off and i had difficulty reading the end of each line... so i brought the reader back to the shop and they found that they had made a mistake in copying the originals which were not cut-off... they were very apologetic and quickly replaced the cut-off pages with clean copies, without any problems... so i guess if the problem is with the instructors originals, you'll have to contact your instructor, if the problem is something they have done, they'll fix it without any problems... but i would still bring it to the shop to find out for sure... plus, the employees there are very helpful and sometimes they play really good music... —DoctorJay

2008-12-08 16:52:47   No corner rounder —StevenDaubert

2009-01-30 10:20:12   I just went and got my anatomy lab and lecture manuals comb bound, and it's awesome! The girl was very friendly and helpful, and she thought ahead about how to make the binding fit my needs in the lab. That was very thoughtful of her; I appreciated it a lot. The binding is great, too! —sammyjwang

2009-02-27 08:40:27   I went there at 8AM (opening time) to drop off an important print job of 16 copies @ 59 pages each. I waited 10 minutes and no one showed up so I took my prints to Kinko's. How do you run a business when you can't even open at the right time? —MichaelHuang

2009-04-01 18:37:39   I honestly hope that this place goes out of business. The service is the worst. All I heard today was "next!", (give ATM), "Sign", "Next"...and so on. I saw that the "co-manager" of Davis Copy Shop trying to explain the need for speedy service. Speedy service while maintaining professionalism is one thing. Unfortunately all I see Davis Copy shop as is an Expensive "mom-and-pop" shop with SLOPPY service. Eventually they will be replaced by larger retail stores providing more competitive pricing and "speedier" service. You are being provided money in return for a service: remember it MichaelVanderArend. —llamaslyr

2009-05-05 05:18:57   yep. since when is business bad? behavior can be banable. —BlueDot

• what does this mean? Is "banable" English? I never read that word before. BlueDot, what is your first language? Please translate this sentence into English, so the rest of us can share your thoughts. —SolidSender