Around Town

The 15 people you meet at Amélie’s French Bakery

Exterior of the original Amelie's location in NoDa. Amelie's will be expanding in Charlotte.
Exterior of the original Amelie's location in NoDa. Amelie's will be expanding in Charlotte. Charlotte Observer

Amélie’s French Bakery in NoDa is my second home for writing, socializing, people watching and engaging in any creative activity.

Based on my experience, here are the 15 types of people you will meet at Amélie’s. Which one are you?

(1) The college student

When the Bakery Gods thought of Amélie’s, they created the perfect place to pull an all-nighter to grind out a paper. Thank you, 24-hour open doors.

(2) The retiree

Don’t you love seeing older couples enjoy a coffee and the paper together? You will probably spot them at 7 a.m.

(3) The family

Ah yes, the parents with their little bundles of joy. Ranges from quiet cooing to outrageous shrieking.

(4) The skater

He might be a little sweaty but typically parks it on the patio.

(5) The Snapchatter

One of a group of girls ranging from a junior at Charlotte Country Day to a freshman at UNC Charlotte.

These are the girls who order the crème brûlée or a salted caramel brownie and make a production out of quietly snapchatting and Instagramming their treats. Search the Amélie’s tag on IG…major food porn.

  Silly François… That palmier is too big for you. Never mind the swimming pool of a café crème… #palmier #gnomelife #françoisthegnome #cafecreme #latte #amelies   A photo posted by Amélie’s French Bakery (@ameliesfrenchbakery) on Jun 11, 2015 at 5:11am PDT

(6) The employee

Really, the best. This person cleans up after you and brings you forks and napkins with no prompt.

(7) The regular

This type sits in the same spot each time. I’m looking at you, guy who sits behind the barista counter.

(8) The artist

Ranges from musicians sitting outside to the watercolor artists in the main room.

Oh François! You pick the most time consuming projects. #françoisthegnome #gnomelife #amelies #carmelcommons

A photo posted by Amélie’s French Bakery (@ameliesfrenchbakery) on May 14, 2015 at 5:57am PDT

(9) The baby-shower-goer

You’ll find her in that private dining room. Go ahead and book the Versailles room for your event. I hear there’s a waiting list!

(10) The blogger, entrepreneur and/or event planner

I take full advantage of the WiFi to blog and write. What you need to know about us: We will occupy the same seat all day next to the nearest outlet.

(11) The person with the group project

Take the edge off with a nice coffee or hot chocolate and get to work. Just don’t go at the last minute. The WiFi can be shoddy with multiple devices at a table.

(12) The person with the lunch meeting

This is a great spot for a lunch or networking date. It’s centrally located.

(13) The cyclist

Add about 20 years on to the skaters and you get your average cyclist. Stay out of their way and they’ll stay out of yours.

(14) The newcomer

Often a tourist — or your mom — whom you invited to town after you’ve been living in Charlotte for a few months and want to show you’re doing okay. The reaction: “Wow! This place is so different!”

(15) The person you haven’t seen in months!

This is pretty much inevitable. You will run into this person. Just gonna focus really hard on this tea and pretend I didn’t just see my ex.

Now I wonder what kind of characters we’ll find at the new south Charlotte location…

Photo by Diedra Laird / Charlotte Observer.


Christine Edwards

@yea_me2

This story was originally published June 16, 2015 at 12:00 AM.

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