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Paillard: Not Just Pounded Beef Anymore

Every now and then we chance upon a well-branded retail concept that should expand, like Québec City's Paillard. Billed as a "café-boulangerie," Paillard operates a massive, inviting space on busy Rue Saint-Jean.

Recently opened, Paillard is a multipurpose food emporium, with a bakery, a patisserie, and an ice cream corner all selling goods created in house. Another area of the store, selling "produits fins," is devoted mostly to Québec delicacies, with a smattering of French products as well.

Paillard's branded font is a cursive one that calls to mind the 1950s, not so much in a cool modernist way than in a manner that calls to mind a bold, immediately familiar iconic brand. Above the sandwich/soup area, high-tech screens alternate menu choices. Long broad wooden communal tables are ideal for those using the café as a work space.

Paillard is a perfect expression of Québec. It transmits a distinctively European atmosphere with the open, ambitious scale of a New World retail space. Paillard could be a signature chain for the province, encapsulating a certain culture of Québec in an ambassadorial manner.  With this in mind, we think that Paillard should move toward an exclusively Québécois product base in order to function as a signature retail entity within Canada and beyond.