Willy Wonka’s Nespresso Factory
My most surreal experience this trip was my trip to the Nespresso store yesterday.
When I came up from the Metro I was greeted by the old Opera house, which is gorgeous. I didn’t have the exact address with me, so I checked my iPhone for an available Wi-Fi network. I was able to connect to one called “Google-Guest” and find the store in the maps app.
The store itself was like a cross between Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the milk bar from The Clockwork Orange, and a Banana Republic store.
There were two guards on either side of the entrance. The ground floor resembled a very spacious retail store, but instead of clothes there were little espresso machines on pedestals, adorned with tiny little cups. The floor was a polished white, and in the middle of the room there was a brushed steel and glass spiral stairway down to the basement.
The lower level was definitely where the action was. This area had a more library/den quality to it (think: a milk bar your mom would go to). There were three stations around the edge of the room, each with a wall of cubby holes filled with long, skinny, colorful Nespresso boxes and a few clerks helping select and sell the coffee. There was also a small circular alcove on one side of the room with a well-dressed gentleman in the middle selling coffee and chocolates.
I was pretty overwhelmed — all I wanted was to buy some coffee. Instead of bothering with selecting boxes from one of the walls of coffee, I just picked up a few of the prepackaged collections in the middle of the room. These turned out to be their new flavors and probably cost me twice as much, but at least I didn’t have to communicate.
I got in line to purchase my selection. The line took about five minutes, because the people in front of me each asked for a number of different boxes of coffee and seemed to ask questions about each one. I think the typical shopper walked out of there with about 25 boxes, enough for 250 cups of coffee.
I left there wondering what an equivalent experience in America might be. Something very pedestrian to a resident, but totally far out to a visitor. I haven’t thought of anything yet…
