New shop at Maison de Retraite in Eymet

Working with the Maison de Retraite to provide new facilities

The new shop at the Maison de Retraite in Eymet is now officially open.  Having already made a beautiful circular tree seat in the gardens, the ACFAA Atelier Group have been busy creating shelves for the inside of the shop, using recycled wood.

The shop will stock supplies of small gifts, clothes, bags, consumables of all nature.  It will be open every Friday.  A thoughtful addition for the residents as many are unable to leave the building to go shopping.

When Manu, who works at home, approached Tim Richardson (Leader of the ACFAA Atelier Group) she explained that “I’ve always taken the residents shopping at the supermarket. Over the last 2 years, things have changed. The residents were expressing their needs more often and I was no longer able to satisfy enough of the requests, which meant that I had to make more trips to the shops or keep the residents waiting. In short, that’s when the need for the shop became apparent. I’ll continue to take residents who want to go to the supermarket, but the shop will be an important support. The aims of the project are to give residents back their ability to be customers and to manage their money. But also a group of residents will decide on everything in the project, which will allow them to get involved in the choices and the residents will help to run the shop. They will manage the till, the supplies, the labelling and the shelving. The residents have decided to open the shop every Friday from 3pm to 5pm. The Association sisao’L will finance the purchases (hygiene, cakes, stamps, clothes). The products bought will be resold at purchase price, whereas what is donated or made will be sold at a small price and will go back to the association, which helps to finance outings. Everyone can buy. Residents, families or staff.“