A new café from the French brand opens today in Nîmes.
“It hasn’t stopped since this morning. But it’s a good sign“, smiles, behind his mask, Sebastien Polo. The manager of the Columbus Café on boulevard Amiral-Courbet spent part of his Wednesday telling impromptu visitors that the establishment was closed. However, from this Thursday, these dismissed will be able to come in and order a coffee to go.
The building is ready, the team is formed. It’s trying
The manager wanted to inaugurate his establishment, despite the closure imposed by the health crisis. “This is the great unknown, we open in degraded mode. I’ve been thinking about this for a month, admits Sébastien Polo. The building is ready, the team is formed. It’s trying. “
This is the fourth establishment managed by Sébastien Polo.
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After Béziers, Montpellier and the Cap Costières shopping arcade, this opening will be the fourth Columbus Café stamped for him, the second in Nîmes. “In 2018, I already had the project to buy the premises from Quick, explains Sébastien Polo. It didn’t work out. This summer, we started talking again and we came to an agreement. We bought back on October 19 and spent two months working on the premises.“
We wanted to enhance the building and integrate it into it
Visitors to the old fast food restaurant should not recognize the premises, and the premises of almost 750 m², “the largest Columbus Café in France“, according to the words of its owner.”We redid everything from floor to ceiling, explains Sébastien Polo. Other than the walls, there is nothing left of Quick.“
The works of the painter Claude Viallat, met at the beginning of the works, were integrated into the reflection after agreement with the artist. “We didn’t want to arrive on this site with our traditional colors, continues Sébastien Polo. The building did not lend itself to this. Rather than invading the place with the concept, we wanted to enhance the building and become part of it.“
“We worked a lot on the acoustics, explains architect Véronique Granier. All the furniture has been custom designed. The idea was for Columbus to come into the building but the star to remain this Haussmannian building.“
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