Have you ever wondered how people get great seats for great events? Can you see yourself on the 50-yard line at the Super Bowl or in the front row at AT&T Park? Are you dieing to get out of the balcony and into the orchestra? If so, Just Tix in Danville may have just the ticket for you.
“We make it easy for our customers to get the best seats for the best events,” said Howie Herbert, who runs Just Tix with his father Howard in the Trader Joe’s shopping center next to San Ramon Valley High School in Danville.
Those events include The Big Game between Cal and Stanford, Dodger-Giant games at AT&T Park, Yankee and Red Sox visits to Oakland, Laker-Warrior games, and Shark playoff series. Just Tix also offers theatre and concert tickets and allows its customers to avoid investing in season tickets or planning months ahead when they want to go to a hot show like Wicked.
“Our mission is to be the best ticket company in the Bay Area,” said Howard Herbert. “And we do that by treating our customers as we like to be treated ourselves.”
Surprisingly, some of the tickets Just Tix sells are below face value. “We buy season tickets to all the major professional and major college teams in the Bay Area,” said Howie Herbert. “While that ensures that we have all the premium games, it also leaves us with many lesser events. We might sell midweek baseball games in great seats at pennies on the dollar. When the local teams are having off years, which was the case until very recently for all but the Sharks, we sell even attractive games at less than face value.
“We make it up with theatre and concert tickets, which are always strong, and will collect premium prices for the high-demand games.”
While Just Tix focuses on premium seats, they also have inventory in the less expensive sections. “We discovered that some customers just want to be in the building, and since we want to provide the best possible service to the greatest number of people, we’ve expanded our inventory.” Howard said. “If you want the very best seat in the bleachers or in the balcony, we now have those, too.”
For an event like the Super Bowl, Just Tix will quote a price depending on where in the stadium a customer would like to sit. “Then, we get them that ticket…even if it means we take a loss on it,” Howie Herbert said. Just Tix has relationships with hundreds of other ticket brokers all over the country to not only serve big events like the World Series and The Final Four, but also to serve local customers who are traveling and might want to take in a game at Yankee Stadium or see the Packers at Lambeau Field.
Just Tix will even hire someone to stand in line for customers who buy tickets for general admission-only events and want the best location, but don’t have the time to wait for hours at a venue.
The Herberts also strive to accommodate last minute requests. They have helped customers propose marriage from premium seats at big games, and have also bailed out husbands who have forgotten anniversaries and needed last minute theatre tickets.
The most famous last minute request Just Tix handled came from comedian and Chicago sports fanatic Dan Akroyd. Akroyd’s plane was landing at SFO at 12:30, and he called Just Tix as he was taxiing on the runway looking for tickets to that afternoon’s 1:05 p.m. Cub-Giant game at AT&T Park. The Herberts were able to arrange for Akroyd to have seats waiting at will call, and then saw him while they watched the game on TV and the cameras focused on Akroyd…in the front row.
The Herberts emphasize that customers who are not celebrities can also count on the level of service Akroyd enjoyed. “If you need tickets for yourself, your family, your team at work, or a group of 200, we can get you the seats you want to the event you want to see,” said Howie Herbert. Just Tix can be reached by calling 800-367-8499 or via the Internet at www.justtix.com.