Suburban mall hopping, part 2

Paris Baguette, Los Cerritos mall

You can tell by the name, Paris Baguette, that this cafe is not run by a French company. It is a franchise run by a rather successful Korean chaebol (SPC group) that has landed in the US a few years ago. There was one in Fort Lee, NJ near us (before we moved). The deco is certainly way cooler than Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. Although the wooden chairs did not look too comfortable, the sofa we were sitting on was nice and cushy. Their bread and pastries were very good indeed, and the selection included Asian flavors, e.g. red bean-stuffed bakery products, etc.

Well, it was February – a week from Valentine’s day. Starbucks livened up what thousands if not millions of people hold in their hands. Evidently, Sue ordered the drink. We did not try the Cup Magic mobile app as suggested on the cup.

Hairbucks? No chance that the goods or services offered here will be confused with the Seattle company’s offerings. But does the similarity of the mark do anything for this business ?

Fancy buying a car in the shopping mall ? One can do just that in this mall which is not far from Cerritos Auto Square (well known as one of the largest and allegedly best places to buy a car). The Fiat 500 (“cinquecento”), so small and cutely colorful, can fit the description of a mall merchandise. A colleague of mine, a Dutch man bought a pink special edition for his wife.

The beverage retail concept below does not make sense. Holland is not well known for either of the ingredients: chocolate or red wine. I guess they are being honest about the source of “ChocoVine Original”. The label shows only tulips, not a grape or cocoa is in sight. Even if it is made with Swiss chocolate and French fine red wine, I really am not sure if the combination works. Just look at the color. And it is four times more expensive than the Merlot next to it !

The “office” attire of certain professionals in Las Vegas, on display at Agent Provacateur.

We were in the west, enough said.

One of the more architecturally interesting mall – namely the Fashion Show Mall in Vegas. Is it meant to be a UFO or a surfboard ?

In the end, we did end up doing a lot of shopping during this trip, mostly electronics goods – in some of the malls where the above photos were taken, although not the items shown in the photos.  To pack the stuff home, we bought a suitcase from a luggage store in the Fashion Show Mall – and minutes later just round the corner, we came across the brand’s own store in a Vegas hotel.