In Saint-Michel, the old-fashioned cookie shop and nearby factory were revamped. For years, no one cared about the small galette Saint-Michel and other goodies, but now, they are back in the game. Good job, marketing team. French regional products are popular and the town’s buttery treats are now a countrywide sought-after délicieux petit souvenir. Plus, let’s face it, there isn’t much to do in Saint Michel. A bakery, a church, a deli and a bar, that’s it. If you have to stop somewhere, may as well do it at the cookie shop—at least, they offer samples (enough to feed a toddler, I checked).
There was an ad on the door: “Get a free shopping bag when you spend €50!”
“Fifty euro worth of cookies? Are you crazy?” I thought. A pack costs about €1.15 at the supermarket. Fancier cookies are slightly more expensive, but still, we are talking less than €3.
And then we stepped inside, and I understood. People were filling huge baskets with giant boxes of cookies—galettes, cigarettes, madeleines, tartelettes, petit gâteaux au chocolat… The Saint-Michel brand (and apparently Bonne-Maman, another parent brand) expanded its range of products. Buying from the local store isn’t cheaper, but there is more variety and boxes are bigger, fancier, collectible even!
Next door, there was a café offering pricey cakes made with cookies (and five layers of chocolate and cream on top), as well as simple madeleines and standard drinks (the non-alcoholic kind—no wonder the café was empty…).
We didn’t buy anything but Mark snacked on samples. I hope he doesn’t get addicted… sea-salted cookies are hard to find in Canada!
lol… “the non-alcoholic kind—no wonder the café was empty”, well I share that cultural similarity 🙂
You will save so luch money not drinking in Canada!
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