South San Francisco: Paris Baguette

This new Paris Baguette branch in South San Francisco opened in October 2014 and is the centerpiece of the strip mall Westborough Square, with its circular atrium grandeur.

I am so sorry for the super blurry photo...I was just so excited to be back at a Paris Baguette, since it was my staple cafe while studying abroad. The inside is quite spacious. This is half of the inside, and the left wall is lined with display cases. The beginning (not shown) has the trays and clamps for you to grab all the fresh bakery items you want, from the long table (shown).

Many of these items I didn't see while in Seoul, but some looked familiar. Above are croissant donuts, very creative! My favorite was this long, twisted sweet pea pastry, which was so sweet and delicious. On top of the table are jams and little bags of other bakery items. At the end of the table are refrigerated items like sandwiches.

Here is a closeup of one of the displays on the left wall. These are gift box sets, which cost about $10 and up and are really fresh, with expiration dates just a few days away. The top is traditional Korean snacks while the bottom are castella rolls which are also sold in Seoul. At the end of these display cases are refrigerated drinks.

At the center of the store is the cash register, and above that are TV monitors with an elaborate brunch menu for items such as

In the back of the store and to the right are all small tables, which were filled with customers when I visited during the early afternoon. The front also says they offer wifi and that they're hiring...how I wish I could work here and sample all the pastries!

There is also a reward system, where they give you a card (like one of those parking validation tickets) and they slide it into a machine after every $5+ purchase to print new information onto the card every time. So all your rewards depends on this one card.

To the left of the counter area is the cake display. Their cakes look so beautiful, especially the elaborate coffee mug cake, second from the right on the top! They're really becoming a diverse bakery that doesn't just focus on on-the-go snacks, but also they're expanding to have special Christmas cakes made to order for the holidays. There is a pamphlet on the counter with all their special cakes and gift sets to really push for these higher end items.

I'm so happy to see more and more Paris Baguette branches opening up in northern California, and I'm especially happy at how high end they look, keeping up with the style of those in Korea! (This is in contrast to The Face Shop, where the shops in California look like really run down, mom-and-pop hole-in-the-wall shops). I hope soon they'll start opening up more stores throughout the West Coast.