What is really interesting at the Abbey store, there are small thematic islets where products of the same nature are grouped ! It feels like a beautiful agro-food trip ! The various Islet themes are : Discover the abbeys; escape on the cheese road; stopover in Quebec; passport to chocolate; retreat at the bakery/pastry; shopping at local products; destination caterer market; escapade in coffee country; detour by Europe; walk in the Artisan area and finally, a well-deserved pause in the religious items section. (Crosses, medals, incense, gifts). The local producers and craftsmen are present and continue to bring value to the store; they provide not only food but also various items such as cards, pottery, jewels, paintings, knitted objects, soaps, just to name a few ! New ! Interpretation center of the Abbey Apart from the products, upon your arrival, we offer an interpretation center showing the Oka monastic life through ancient pictures. You will find a short summary of the Oka cheese history and the farming work of the abbey monks. This exposition will soon continue with the current processes. A little bit of history It's in 1881, invited by the Sulpiciens priests, some monks from the Bellefontaine abbey, in France, moved in to La Seigneurie des Deux-Montagnes, close to the Oka village. Lodging first in the miller's small house, they built a monastery, at the location where the agriculture school will stand later, managed by the monks, until 1962. Two consecutive fires forced the monks to rebuild the monastery and its dependencies. The current building is the fourth monastery, dating from 1917. Today, the monks have passed on their history to the Corporation de l'Abbaye d'Oka (Non-lucrative agency whose mission is to preserve the patrimony left by the trappist monks) who, by the store for example, is proud to pursue the hard labor and wisdom path created by the monks.