Patrick Mathieu and Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman
This is the second in a series of discount articles you might not be aware about.
If you haven't already discovered amazing discount deals for residents to the area, then read on. And please send us any ones we can share to our readers. These are NOT sponsored entries. These are Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman's, editor of Know-it-all passport®, personal recommendations.
Sun Store - non prescription pharmacy discount
https://www.sunstore.ch/fr
Sun Store is more than a pharmacy that serves up prescriptions. It's a place where you can get advice, vaccinations, heart rate check-ups, nutritional and dietary advice, diabetic monitoring, airborne allergy testing, and take advantage of its wide range of shopping ideas.
Sun Store and the Swiss Heart Foundation actively support you in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke. You can ask for a CardioTest® at any Sun Store (donators of the Swiss Heart Foundation receive a voucher; CHF 49.- for others). Sun Store also will mesure your cholesterol rate (total, HDL and LDL), blood sugar and blood pressure) and evaluate the risk in percentage of cardiovascular diseases in the next ten years. CardioTest®, Diabetotest®, and Allergotest® are brand names for these tests.
Sun Store serves about 100,000 customers a day throughout Switzerland and employs over 1,700 people. With over 85 addresses, Sun Store is the leading pharmacy chain in French-speaking Switzerland, and also has three addresses in Ticino.
Michèle was very enthusiastic about her experience with Sabine Lecercq Haanæs, who is part of the Maison Casagiu & Co team, and wrote us a rave review. In fact, if you want to see some of Sabine's work for yourself, she is holding an exhibition from Friday, 14 June 2024 through August at the Maison Casagui address in Nyon (see below).
Michèle wrote the following to knowitall: When we met with Sabine a few years ago, we felt that her style was exactly what we were looking for. We were impressed with her technique that combines painting with a kind of texture that gives life to her artwork. She usually starts with a strong dominant color that jumps out at you, but when you look at it closely, you see a large variation of undertones that you can endlessly dissect. Each time I look at one of her paintings, I’m surprised to discover how it changes, her technique translates into movement, complexity and depth.
Three years ago, we asked Sabine if she could create a piece for us. We knew where we wanted this piece to be placed but had very little idea of the color and format. Sabine was amazing at advising us. She not only came to our home to look at the wall where we wanted to place her work, but she also spent time looking at the furniture, the lighting and the overall atmosphere of the room. She asked many questions in order to understand what exactly we were looking for, and most importantly, what emotion we were hoping this artwork would create for us.
Sabine Lecercq Haanæs with one of her works
Thanks to her visit to our home she was able to create a very unique triptych piece with the perfect size and placement on the wall. She recommended a deep and light red that completely changed the atmosphere of the space and has become the focal point of attraction when you enter the room.
Thanks to this successful and exciting collaboration, we asked Sabine to create another artwork for our vacation home. She used a different technique to adapt to a different athmosphere and environment. The project is based on a more graphic approach that fits perfectly with the style of the house and the colors of the decoration of the main room where the painting hangs.
Fun, educational, interactive children's books set though Swiss towns. The main character is Marco the Swiss Alpine Marmot. We were contacted by Clint Bauld, who has been working diligently to get the printed versions out. We just received news that the Marco Loves Switzerland Morges and Nyon books are printed and available!
Soon to follow will be Geneva (June 2024), Zurich, and a few more.
Each set of books can be bought in English or in French (and German for the Zurich edition):
- Story book
- Travel edition
- Activity book
- Coloring book
What has been the inspiration?
Clint explains, "As an avid traveller and lover of history, I wanted to create books which would inspire and educate children to love exploring through the eyes of the lovable, Marco the Swiss Alpine Marmot.
MAISON CASAGIU & Co: Sabine, Bénédicte, Laetitia, Priscille, Giselle, Barbara
In Nyon, a new concept store combining tranquillity and refinement opened its doors almost a year ago, offering a range of services dedicated both to real estate and to artistic and decorative creativity. The synergy of skills intertwines to create unique, personalised living spaces. Driven by dynamic, enterprising women, this all-inclusive concept has a unique charm and originality all of its own.
How it all began: A beautiful story
In 2015, Casagiu was born from the hands and heart of Laetitia, who named her little boutique after the lucky acronym of the 3 first names of her daughters Carla, Sarah and Giulia. Passionate about human relationships and beautiful things, she set up shop under the arches on the lake road in Coppet where she welcomed visitors with warmth and a smile, inviting them to discover the many treasures she carefully selected. Casagiu then moved into the majestic setting of the Château de Coppet in 2018.
In 2023, Laetitia was once again faced with a unique opportunity: to move into the former Le Garage on Rue de Rive in Nyon, an incredible 340m2 of space facing the serene waters of Lake Geneva.
When we heard about the merger between MyExpatShop and Bite Sized British Shop, we immediately contacted the owner Xanthe Visram from Bite Sized British Shop. She explains that she is passionate about books and child literacy, previously selling books to families in the Vevey/Montreux area. We caught up with her and she explained how she started selling the best of British foodstuffs as well. She is also offering a delicious tin of shortbread biscuits to one lucky knowitall reader... see the competition below.
How did the idea get started?
A friend asked me if I happened to know anyone who was looking for commercial space as some had opened up next to her English school and when I walked in inspiration struck! I just knew that I could make it into a warm and welcoming British shop.
Although the original space didn’t work out, I soon found a better location and in 2019 I opened Bite Sized, my British shop, in St-Légier, VD.
The shop is now full of British food products, gifts, games, art from local artists, greeting cards and over 1,500 new books in English.
Have you been working on this idea forever?
During the pandemic it became essential to move my business online. At that time I was able to offer Click & Collect services while shops couldn’t open their doors.
Since then it has developed so that I am now able to sell and deliver all of my products across Switzerland, including crumpets and sausages via the website.
