A brave and innovative social experiment launched almost three years ago in Pointe-Claire Village, has come to an abrupt end.
The Co-op des Bons Voisins, a 70-member co-operative that offered food and drink, live local entertainment and organic and fair-trade groceries for sale in a cosy location on Lakeshore Rd., has closed its doors. A final party was held last Friday night and Sunday, Dec. 1, was its last day of operation.
“Though cut short, the lifespan of the Co-op des Bons Voisins was just long enough to gather hundreds of like-minded people under one roof,” Nathalie Laplante, a board member said in an email to supporters announcing the closure. “It is now up to each of us to keep the fire alive.”
Despite support from volunteers and the community, Laplante said, the Co-op would have needed an injection of $25,000 – working capital that wasn’t available.
The Co-op opened in October 2011. It was the idea of friends Anne-Marie Angers Trottier and Sophie Laplante, both Pointe-Claire residents, who for years had brainstormed ways to revitalize Pointe-Claire Village.
During the Co-op’s short life, it was a place to join friends over a coffee or a Quebec beer, to enjoy a meal made from locally-sourced products or to take in a musical concert or an eco-workshop.