What if the best coffee in Paris was enjoyed between 2 trains?
A Parisian roaster since 1957, Brûlerie des Gobelins is bringing specialty coffee to one of the busiest train stations in France. After four years at La Samaritaine, the brand is setting up its first permanent kiosk in Hall 2 of Paris Gare de Lyon.
To transform a few square meters of the concourse into a fully-fledged retail outlet, the brand put its trust in Expace: design, manufacturing, and installation of a kiosk tailored to the pace of a high-traffic location, without compromising on the brand's identity.
Fitting a 1957 house into a railway station hall
A station kiosk is an exercise in compression. The entire promise of a brand — its history, its range, its service ritual — must fit into a space open on four sides, visible from afar, readable in three seconds, and operational from the very first morning train.
The approach chosen with the Brûlerie des Gobelins is summed up in one image: the Parisian counter of the sixties. Molded white banner, backlit retro black lettering, light wood alcoves, flat area of signature yellow on horizontal slats highlighted with aluminum. A warm, immediately identifiable vocabulary that establishes a coffee roasting house where one would usually only expect a vending machine.
The brand's monogram, applied as a corner sign on both facades, gives the kiosk its signature from a distance: the traveler identifies it from the hall, long before reading the menu.
In a station, the performance of a point of sale is played out by the second. Each element of the kiosk has been positioned according to the traveler's journey and the barista's movements:
La Marzocco espresso machine in the center of the counter, as a theater: the preparation process becomes the entertainment of the point of sale.
Two checkout positions to absorb peak morning traffic and late afternoon departures without disrupting the flow.
Refrigerated pastry display case on the corner return, on the side most exposed to foot traffic, to capture impulse purchases without crowding the queue.
Grain silos and shelves of coffee bags at the back of the counter: take-away sales of coffee beans remain visible, whereas they are often sacrificed in compact formats.
Backlit menu board on the side facade, readable from the waiting line and from the cross flow.
Integrated storage and hidden technical access within the thickness of the kiosk, for restocking without interrupting service.
Design, manufacturing, installation: the Expace method in high-traffic areas
A construction site in a railway station is not a standard shop construction site. Interventions take place on busy sites, often at night, in short time slots, with access, fire safety, and co-activity constraints imposed by the site operator.
Expace masters this chain from end to end:
Design — translation of the brand guidelines into commercial space, study of layout and flows, aesthetic and technical validation of the file with the landlord or site manager.
Workshop manufacturing — production of furniture and cladding, complete pre-assembly and quality control before shipping. The kiosk arrives on site ready to assemble.
Installation — installation during night shifts, coordination of technical trades, connections, commissioning, and turnkey delivery.
Follow-up — maintenance, spare parts, and replication of the concept on subsequent locations.
Frequently asked questions about railway station kiosk design
How long does it take to design a commercial kiosk in a railway station? The timeframe depends on the validation of the file by the site manager and the technical complexity. Workshop manufacturing with pre-assembly significantly reduces downtime on site: the installation then takes place over a few nights of intervention.
Can a kiosk be installed without closing the area to the public? Yes. Construction sites in railway stations, shopping malls, or airports take place in occupied premises, during night shifts or non-operational hours, with a phrasing validated beforehand with the manager.
How to reconcile brand guidelines with landlord specifications? By integrating site constraints right from the design stage: signage dimensions, fire-rated materials, clear heights, accessibility, connections. The technical file is built to pass validation on the first try.
Can a kiosk concept be duplicated across multiple locations? That is indeed the objective. A kiosk designed as a product — modular, industrializable, with layout variations — allows subsequent locations to be opened faster and at a controlled cost.
Who handles maintenance after opening? Expace handles follow-up, spare parts, and furniture modifications throughout the duration of the occupancy contract.
Date :
2024
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