Local Store Marketing Tours: San Francisco

Posted 9 May 2013

We’re launching a new tool on LSMGuide…Local Store Marketing (LSM) Tours. As we’re out traveling local markets, we’ll take pictures…sampling, products, concepts, signage, promotions…and share them with you here, highlights on our blog and full details for members in the LSM Tours Tool.

Our first stop on LSMTours: San Francisco.

Touring the downtown area a few weeks ago, you’ll see a theme in what caught our eye…European Inspiration from France and Italy.

Miette

This gorgeous little pastry shop sitting in the Ferry Building Marketplace feels like you’ve stepped into a French Patisserie. Miette is French for ‘crumb.’ I guess that’s all that’s left after you gobble down their tasty treats…from gorgeous tortes to macaroons to cupcakes. Meg Ray, a lifelong baker, founded Miette in 2001 to realize her vision of making the beautiful and delicious pastries she found on her visits to Europe. Their elegant and yummy displays take the cake.

il Cane Rosso

While the inspiration is Italian (it means the Red Dog), the food is purely local. Local continues to be very important in San Francisco.The food was delicious and we enjoyed views of the water outside their Ferry Building location. We love their hand crafted signage…an example of hand written and kraft paper done right.

Yogorino

Frozen yogurt shops are everywhere these days, but this one is ‘not frozen yogurt, it’s yogorino,’ which is probiotic and functional food. Think Italian gelato shop but cool and slick Italian design. These are popping up in many cities around the world.

Crêpe & Curry

Half French and half Thai. Interesting combination. But both sides looked equally yummy. You can even have a curry crêpe. At Four Embarcadero Center under new ownership, they’ve gone something here.

A few other things we saw in passing…

THE A-Frame Sign: This is one of the biggest we’ve seen. It definitely caught our eye and visibly displayed the menu. (Careful the markers you use…you can see some ghosting here.) Members, find more on A-Frame Signage in the Marketing Activities Tool.