"That building over there is in Cupertino, and we're in Los Altos, but our phone number is still in the 408 area code," he says with a hint of confusion. Patel operates the new PostalAnnex franchise that's "between the Trader Joe's and the Rite Aid," as he says to an inquiring customer on the phone, but the municipal identity crisis has had no bearing on the success of his business so far.

Patel and his wife, Mona, opened this PostalAnnex four months ago, and they have already hired an employee to help with the expected holiday crush. "It has been ramping up. October was better than September," Patel says. "We're seeing new faces every day." Like other stores in the PostalAnnex chain, this new location offers packing and shipping with UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service, and both Patel and his wife are notaries public.

That's not what he did originally. Patel used to be a software engineer for Palm, but just as the tech boom burst and he lost his job, he and his wife had already started discussing starting their own business. "Business has been in our family for two generations," says Patel, whose father is in the hospitality industry and who has uncles who own 7-Eleven stores, all in the Bay Area. "It's nice being your own boss and setting your own hours."

One of Patel's relatives owns a business similar to PostalAnnex in Brentwood, so when the chain had a store opening up at Foothill Crossings, he jumped for it. "We knew we wanted to settle out here, and this just came up," he says. "Trader Joe's is a great draw for traffic, and we're the right distance between nearby post offices."

The Patels are currently living in San Leandro--Mona still holds her job as a scientist in Pleasanton--so the commute is something she faces these days. The future may also hold a return to the high-tech world--Patel says his ideal situation would involve resuming his career with the PostalAnnex business on the side--but he's still indulging his technological side through his customers. "I'm actually doing a spreadsheet for someone," he says.

PostalAnnex is located at 2310 Homestead Road in Los Altos and is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, call 408.481.0580.