La Boulange Palo Alto to close

Terrible. Sometimes people don't want the Starbucks quick-service model. La Boulange served a very real market.

Unfortunate, but inevitable.

Le Boulange turned an awkward space into something really nice. I'll also miss the food, which is a big step above their offerings at Starbucks.

Just a coincidence that Starbucks has a satanist logo? I think not.

Hail Mermaid!

SITD, starbucks does not have a satanic logo. This isn't the 90s.

I've used the ones in Mt View and Cupertino (Possibly before Starbucks).
I figured they bought them for the Bakery goods and the Food part was a bonus without tampering with the Starbucks branded locations.

Sad

What are the chances that the Palo Alto space remains a cafe?

Does this space have to remain retail?

Terrible news. While I like Starbucks, Boukange is a class act.

@chris:

Based on recent public outcry over the steady loss of downtown retail, my guess is that it would be challenging -- but not impossible -- for a developer to convert the La Boulange site into office space.

"What are the chances that the Palo Alto space remains a cafe?"

I'd say about 10-15%.

"Does this space have to remain retail?"

Nope. My estimate is maybe 60% chance of it remaining retail. Of course, those are my personal guesses without any hard basis.

The City of Palo is perfectly capable of kowtowing to the whims and desires of developers and letting this be converted into office space.

La Boulange is another Starbucks casualty a la Torrefazione Italia in 2005. Same takeover, same number of cafes, and same excuse for closing them. I am certain their finance team knew the state of the finances before they were acquired. La Boulange did change its colors overnight.

Closing them is a blatent strategy of killing the competition while it is nascent.

La Boulange is another Starbucks casualty a la Torrefazione Italia in 2005. Same takeover, same number of cafes, and same excuse for closing them. I am certain their finance team knew the state of the finances before they were acquired. La Boulange did change its colors overnight.

Closing them is a blatent strategy of killing the competition while it is nascent.

Jeez! You guys need to broaden your horizons. There are more coffee shops than Starbucks. Their coffe is terrible!!! Contribute to a local business owner.

Forget it, Bob.

The people who go to Peet's and Starbucks today are mass market consumers. Both coffee shops started as high-quality mom-and-pop artisan cafes.

Starbucks -- more than Peet's -- has degraded into a very pedestrian chain. That was part of the failure of the assimilation of La Boulange into the Starbucks empire. Starbucks bought La Boulange in the hopes to upgrade their food offerings, but many complained about the smaller items and higher prices, so Starbucks eventually relented and returned some discontinued items back to the food menu.

If you care about coffee, you'd be patronizing one of the independent shops. Twenty years ago, it might have been Caffe Verona (where Reposado now operates). Today, it might be Coupa, Venezia, Blue Bottle, etc. Even Philz is within walking distance.

I never did get the appeal of La Boulange. I tasted their baked goods early on (the Pacific Heights store in SF) when they were just developing the "La Boulange" brand (originally Bay Bread), and I thought their items were very ordinary (the Gallic-styled retail experience was the only differentiator, but that never justified the prices). Even their loaves were practically inedible the following day, whereas a well-baked bread (like Acme) could easily last several days.

Pascal Rigo is a genius. He produced mediocre baked goods, priced them high, sold them in ersatz retail stores, and started pouring forgettable coffee. His original bakery stores made little attempt at being coffee shops. He basically sold a bunch of mediocre recipes and a handful of commercial properties to Starbucks for $100 million. Brilliant.

Some day, in the not too distance future, someone else like Rigo will come along and do the whole thing again.

Whoa, scared me. For a moment there I thought it was LeBoulanger that was closing its locations. That would have been a major disappointment.

Carry on.

Too bad it's not Leboulanger - that chain really, really, really sucks. Talk about forgettable and pedestrian.

It is too bad that Starbucks couldn't live with a much better local private chain. La Boulange food and coffee is so good!!

The only way for Starbucks was to buy them out and close them.

Let's stay away from Starbucks to show our support with smaller and better local chains.

"Jeez! You guys need to broaden your horizons. There are more coffee shops than Starbucks. Their coffe is terrible!!! Contribute to a local business owner."

Aren't the franchisees local business owners? But I get your point, and think it is a shame that La Boulange is closing. Not to worry, though, as we still have:

Bistro Maxine
Cafe Venetia
Coupa Cafe
Epi
Paris Baguette
Prolific Oven

and these, if they count:

Peets (two of them)
Blue Bottle
Philz

and no list would be complete without:

Palo Alto Creamery
Peninsula Creamery

With these two, who needs anything else?

@ Kazu - those are all great alternatives for better food and coffee, but they are all worse alternatives for sitting outside on patio and enjoying the beautiful weather.

As long as cheese danish is still there, I'm OK.

I\'m fine with them closing. I thought their food was "ok" and really only ever bought pastries. I would love to see a new, better local coffee shop in its place. Has anyone been to Rapha in SF in the Marina? I feel like that would do well in Palo Alto and their coffee (Four Barrel) and food selections from local bakeries is wonderful.