Berkeley Lighting Co.

Excellent service and expertise. Taking on this DIY lighting project was terrifying, but Sean really made it less scary with his willingness to help, his knowledge, and his flexibility. He has a wide selection of lighting, and anything he doesn’t have he not only can get it quickly, but warns you of the considerations and supplementary materials needed as well. Many of our lighting decisions were shaped by his guidance, and we were able to avoid a lot of issues that I am certain that we would’ve run into otherwise. Berkeley lighting was definitely our partner and advisor during our lighting journey, and I can’t recommend them enough.

Amazing service, beautiful selection. Extremely professions and knowledgeable. Five star customer service. Thank you so much for the beautiful chandelier and all your advice! Will definitely be back.

What a wonderful store. We arrived at closing. Sean took the time to show us around and answer our questions. No rush. Even when it became clear we weren’t going to purchase anything today. And he went out of his way to help us find what we needed. Thanks Sean! We’ll be back when it’s time for us to buy lighting.

Really, really nice people with a strong bent to customer service. There’s far more available than you see in the showroom; they’ve got catalogs of quality light fixtures of many different styles, and they’ll stand with you and go through them, helping you make choices. The owner is accommodating and friendly, and his attitude runs through every salesperson I spoke with. A lovely place to do business.

Walked in with an expensive ceiling fixture that hasn’t worked properly for 5 of the 10 years I’ve owned it. Three guys at the desk immediately all started helping me. They knew the fixture, knew that the sockets were defective and that the manufacturer had been willing to replace them. One guy called them to ask if the manufacture would still send out free replacement parts, 10 years after it was purchased. Another guy quickly determined the bad sockets and the other wrote me up. Two days later they called me that it was ready and charged me a very minimal fee for their labor. And it works! This kind of service and knowledge of the field is hard to find.

I can’t imagine better service and care that we received from Sholeh and the staff at Berkeley Lighting. We just completed renovating a 1923 Berkeley house, and ended up wanting lights for about 20 different spaces. Each room had different needs, and thanks to Sholeh’s efforts, we got amazing fixtures. She even put together a spreadsheet outlining each light, the appropriate bulb, dimmer, wattage, etc — so this made it really easy for the electrician! All arrived on time, and just as expected. I certainly never knew I’d enjoy lights this much, but these fixtures really worked out just right.
And on those occasions when it came to a fixture wasn’t right, or a glass had a chip, the Berkeley Lighting team took care of all these details. We couldn’t be happier.
The in-​store experience is quite remarkable. They had so many lights to look at (for all sizes and needs). And they were able to order from a huge variety of catalogs, too.
And the pricing was very fair.
This store exemplfies all the values and qualities of a specialty store. If you need light fixtures, I’d suggest you give these nice, smart lighting professionals a visit.

So have been all over the Bay Area to find the exact Chandelier for my place and after 4 – 5 stores nothing. A good friend tells me to go to Berkeley… What? I drive and get to Berkeley lighting and enter the store… WOW! This is the best most organised store I have seen. The staff was very helpful and I think the owner helped me out and answered all my questions. I found the exact piece I was looking for and I was done.
I don’t typically make reviews but when a store like this exists in the Bay Area with the knowledge and a smile… I had to let my fellow Unilocalers know! You need lighting this is the place.

Sholeh and team provided me with great customer service. They were very patient and went above and beyond in making sure I was happy with my purchase. They have one of the better pendant light selections in the Bay Area. Highly recommended!

I’m shocked to see so many five star reviews for this place… I’ve never received such poor service in any other establishment of any kind. I’ve been in there about 6 times (stopping in due to proximity and relative rarity of this type of business) both on a professional basis and personal basis, as a landscape architect and a homeowner. On almost every occasion I’ve been completely ignored by the staff – no one has greeted me upon entering the store, nor approached me and asked if I needed help, nor even really looked up when I approached the counter… I’ve had to go out of my way to ask a question, and the help is stingy and uninformative. They could care less about my professional status, which normally is not the case, as most businesses that sell products that would typically be specified by a design professional will seek to cultivate a good working relationship with a designer. Additionally, when I went in there as a homeowner looking for a new dining room fixture, ready to spend some serious money, they went to no effort at all to inquire as to what I was looking for, point me in the right direction in their catalogues, help me hone in on a nice fixture appropriate for the architecture of my home, etc.
The inventory is blah, nothing special, and ultimately I found what I was looking for from Renovation on 4^th St. (Somewhat unfortunately, I’d already put in the order when I found something even nicer and made LOCALLY from Metro Lighting, also in Berkeley, for the same price point). I’m happy with my Renovation fixture, it’s lovely, but I try to support local artisans and businesses especially. Metro Lighting is awesome, highly recommend it, and for GREAT customer service and for familiarizing you with what else might be available, try Danville Light Source. For landscape fixtures, try The Urban Farmer Store in Richmond.
I will never go in to this establishment again and I’d say it was their loss, but they’ve been there for years and seem to be doing ok – who knows why.

I used to love this place. The selection of lighting is still pretty awesome, but just TRY to get any help here. I went in recently a few times, as it is in my neighborhood and I’ve been wanting some new light fixtures. I’ve always liked it in the past, and have gotten most of my lighting here. Of the three times I stopped by, not ONE person offered me any help at all. One time I stood there for 10 minutes and actually had the employees walk right by me without saying hello or asking me if I needed help. All three times I walked out unacknowledged. Not good.
This is a fine place to shop though if you know what you want and don’t need much help. They do have a lot.

I had LED strip lighting installed on a kitchen remodel two years ago. One of the strip connectors was getting funky and not doing it’s job (I think the electrician didn’t do the connector right). The strip lighting was made by Diode LED here in Emeryville. I went to Berkeley Lighting because they carry this product. I am sure glad that I did. Sholeh was there for me, extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and directing me to the right connector to fix the problem. My wife thinks I am an expert electrician now, but it really was Sholeh and Berkeley Lighting that saved the day. For a $ 7.00 connector I got first class treatment!

Nesty nesterson. That’s who I am. And now with the rain I feel even the more so. I have a plan for this weekend and it’s going to be hella sticks and feathers.
Last weekend I got to thinking that the new floor would be accented more pleasantly with different and more interesting illumination. I was naturally born with a basic inclination towards nestiness and a desire to make them but sadly not so much in the way of the skills. I try, though, and through the trial and error I think I do OK.
So first I went to the way cool lighting store over yonder it’s new and has a ton of really smart stuff but I found that the fixtures that fastened to the ceiling by hardware and not a more flexible attachment had to be special ordered and it would take three weeks and I got little in the way of sympathy or alternatives so feeling sad and cold I left.
And headed straight over to the Nest District on San Pablo where angels sang even from a distance as I came up University I heard them and knew I had made the Proper Decision. Mucho selection, though not admittedly cool as the other place with some of the selection they more than made up for it by having a) nice stuff, b) a decent selection, c) really really nice and attentive and pleasant and real staff who almost could have given me a candle in a sack and I’d have gone home happy.
I didn’t get a candle in a sack. I got a melted looking hand crafted pretty shade that hung by a flexible attachment that I could size myself at home and if it turned out we didn’t get along I had seven days for a refund and I think longer for a store credit and that’s pretty fair so I brought it home. She gave me two bulbs for free. One she said was her favorite and indeed — it’s my favorite too.
If you need something out of this world and the nature of the transactional interaction isn’t important to you there’s many places you can go and get your illumination on. But if you’re liking of the happy shopping experience and are looking for creative but still fairly traditional lighting options then BLC is the place for you.
Nest on, nesters.

Sadly, in my opinion they are not keeping up with lighting technology. They are nice… but in my opinion uninformed.
I visited with a track fixture, an R20. I asked about LED replacements.
They had one bulb. It was a 40 degree flood with output roughly the same as a 60 watt halogen using 8 watts… cool. But I wanted a more narrow beam for lighting art. I was told they could only get this bulb, and there are no narrow beams. I asked how much for the one they had?
I was told $ 48.00.
??
I went online, found 8 degree, R20 LEDs which use 8 watts and are roughly like a 60 watt halogen.
$ 21.00 each.
The message is this… I respect the owner’s right to charge whatever he wishes. I respect his overhead. But I will not pay more than two times the cost AND in my opinion be misinformed. In my opinion badly misinformed.
Caveat emptor.
For brick and mortar stores to survive, they need to consider selling at less than full list. Maybe not Internet prices, but certainly not full list price because consumers are not stupid — anymore.
And, stay current with what is available or in my opinion you risk appearing clueless.

An experience so good and so surprising that it prompts one of my infrequent reviews.
At 4:10 pm on a Tuesday (which, ok, wasn’t exactly their rush hour), a friend and I brought in two of her lamps that apparently had broken switches. The owner wrote up the order, giving a surprisingly low estimate, and said he’d call her when they were repaired, not giving a specific date by when they’d be finished.
We decided that since we were in the area, we’d go get some food and coffee at Jimmy Bean’s (a place that *would* have a five star rating from me if I wrote more reviews). 70 minutes later, as we were finishing our meal, her phone rang, and we were astonished (not too strong a word) to learn it was the store, telling her the lamps were repaired and ready to pick up.
That was over a week ago, and the lamps have been working fine ever since

Decent selection. Better choices for hanging or overheads. Overpriced. Friendly service though. If you have at least 300 to spend you might find yourself coming home with something. Still looking for a bedside lamp.

Good, smart folks who stand behind their work. I was especially well treated during a return of a defective product (not their fault) and their support was stellar. No issues of cost or responsibility, they did the right thing (rare trait these days).
their prices are about retail average but (of course) higher than comparable items on the net; in this case the cost differential is mitigated by the service and advice.

The service here is really friendly. I was looking for some rather uncommon florescent bulbs (I wanted three, but no online store carried them in lots smaller than one hundred). I called to see if Berkeley Lighting had the bulbs in stock. They didn’t, but they called me a few days later when an order came in. The folks at the store were super-​friendly, and I was a happy customer.
The store itself is visually very interesting; there are hundreds of fixtures hanging from the ceiling. My only gripe is that they’re hung very low, so that normal-​sized patrons can get a closer look. At 6’8″, I found myself hunched over in most of the store. Minor grievance, though.

The lighting fixture in the Kitchen of my Albany Home is slowly dying. It’s now lights out for 2 out of the 3 branches and it’s getting pretty dark during meal time. So I went out today for that right combination of beauty, functionality, and brightness. There are several choices in the Greater Berkeley and by virtue of a previous stop at REI, I ended up at Berkeley Lighting. I’ve been here before and I knew that this would be a great place to start.
I quickly found a fixture that fit my criteria and although it was perhaps a little dear for my so called budget, it hit all cylinders in terms of what I was looking for. Plus there’s the bonus that Gayle’s Son has agreed complete the installation. The selection here is generous, service is good, and if this fixture somehow doesn’t work out, I can take it back. But I think I have a keeper here.

A little more than a year ago my wife and I decided to replace some of the light fixtures in our home. We were looking on line and although we saw lots of fixtures we liked there is nothing like being able to see firsthand what you are about to buy. So we looked on line for a brick and mortar store and found Berkeley lighting.
Originally my intention was to find what we wanted in the store, order it on line, and save some money. As I looked around I realized that their pricing, on some items, was actually LESS expensive than what we found on line! For other items the mark up was no more than 10% and this was mostly on special order items that had so many different options (finish size etc) that unless you are a lighting aficionado you would definitely make a mistake with your on line order.
Don’t forget that brick and mortar stores usually have more expenses than Internet based stores so for us as consumers to be able to go and actually see product first hand and speak with someone that knows what they are talking about I believe it is worth paying a small surcharge.
This company is a class act and I hope you try them.

I dropped in looking for an electronic ballast as part of an upgrade from a T12 to a T8 fluorescent fixture in my kitchen. They didn’t stock any, however the ‘man of the hour’ behind the desk was very helpful suggesting either Berkeley Ace Hardware (on the 2^nd floor) or Laner Electric Supply up towards the Costco (they would have better selection according to him).
He also was happy to answer a quick follow-​up question about the installation of the new ballast which put me at ease — I had done my homework correctly and knew what I was doing. Always a good feeling as a DIYer.
That aside, they looked to have a pretty good selection of fixtures and the like (would go back if I needed one). It wasn’t cramped and there’s maybe 4 parking spots that they share with another furniture store next door (1 hr metered street parking in front). I had no trouble parking ~4PM. Only 1 other couple entered the store after I was there, so no trouble to be served (perhaps a good after-​work stop). Note that they have a location in Walnut Creek for those on the other side of the tunnel.