The store was located just a few buildings away from the museum on the same side of the street towards the south. I believe it was the Struthers family home [Museum editor's note: the Struthers' homes were -- parents and one son lived in what is now the Museum site and the other two sons had their own home, one on Ford Road and the other on the west side of Harris in what is now the Bergstrom Acadamy building] and their [Museum editor's note: and the Hoffmann family's] wonderful woods that was just across the street. It was originally called Jones Confectionery. Prior to it becoming a Confectionary and grocery it was a garage with mechanic etc. It was gradually converted over the years into a full grocery and a whatever you have on hand to sell or what people want you to sell country store. It became very eclectic… In the early years they retained the original high old glass top gas pumps out fron[t] of the store that were from the original Garage for many years. These tall glass top pumps were eventually removed, and a newer style of short metal gas pumps were put in - @ in the 50s to the right (northside) of the store and were used for gas fill-ups into the 1960s. I’m not sure if they were kept into the 70s. In the 50s-60s there was a shiny coffee counter with chrome accents and had high swivel green leather soda seats. They sold milk shakes, sodas, floats, banana splits drizzled with caramel and strawberry sauces with special ice cream wafers on the side…and of course there was pop, like coke served in original coca cola glasses, orange crush, root beer, 7-up, there were other odd brands in the soda cooler like kik cola, mountain dew, fanta, Kickapoo joy juice, grape crush, pink cream soda, etc…at the small counter there was also sanka instant coffee served with tinned carnation mild and homemade cookies or sandwiches. The original Confectionery area was a combination of a Candy counter, Soda service, Lunch counter, cigarettes & confections. The confectionary was first created for a serving area those who came to get gas. People would stay and chat and refresh themselves with lunch or treats. It was an early social centre for those that wanted a refreshment break, smoke a cigarette and get caught up on the latest town gossip…the grocery part grew larger along the way and the soda counter shrunk to a couple of stools that people would hand around on and chat… and then of course there were comics, magazines, and pocketbooks area and all the gossip rags of the day. Jones’ store had the biggest and best selection in town… Davie Jones was also a butcher and there was a full meat locker in the back storeroom and out front in the store a cooler counter with full selection from steaks, shops, burger meat to slice lunch meats, sausages and cheeses, etc. a real gourmet buffet of foods…<\/div>\r\n
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Myself I love the old fashioned, eclectic assortment of things and I think that the store looked much better when Davey Jones owned it when it was a nice cozy home-style country store. Greet everyone with a smile and how do you do? Have a nice day! ...he loved the store with his heart and soul and opened it everyday before 8 am and closed at 9pm. Can you believe, he would even open it on Christmas Day! At great protest from us in the back house, I can tell you…he just would chuckle and say…its just for a few hours, people need to get their fresh milk and bread…on a good year we usually managed to get him to close around noon or a big. He was such a character. He would always put up a Christmas display on the roof of the store. A big affair. There was a large sleigh with three sets of double reindeers – a big Santa and 4 foot lit up Candles, a few Xmas trees with strands of lights and lights all around the doors and windows. I wished I had a photo of the Christmas decorations. It was quite a fun sight! In his spare time? ? – He was on town council, school boards, and was actively involved in many aspects of Pitt Meadows with others who cared and kept the town moving forward with vision. I am really understating the extent of what he did at this time in his life as it was a huge part of his life and I was a kid and just watched more than I understood at the time, it would take getting older to understand better many of the things he accomplished. David Jones had a very strong character with a solid work ethic and was tirelessly devoted to and proud of the community of Pitt Meadows and of his work within it. A natural leader. He dedicated himself to the establishment of schools and continued improving educational opportunities for all children, with a hope and an eye towards the future where more children could have an education and take their place in the world better prepared for what may come at them and to live a better life, because of education and hopefully also give back to making the world a better place…<\/div>\r\n
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His beloved wife Annie Jones died about @1970. They married as young teenagers in Penygroes in Northern Wales before immigrating to Alberta in the early 30s where they began living in a thriving all Welsh settlement, farming community called “wood river” that was situated outside of the Ponoka area. I think they were there @ 10 years. They had a family of two children while there; Rob and Marie. Uncle Rob served in WW2 and became a train engineer. He would always double toot the horn when he did a train run through Pitt Meadows. Marie moved to Pitt Meadows, living with them…Dave and Annie Jones were friends of Kitty and Harold Sutton, some how, some way they came to move to Pitt Meadows, I think that was in the early 40s. First they lived on the Sutton farm with Kitty and Harold for a while and another daughter came into the world, Carol…<\/div>\r\n
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Skipping ahead…. And then at some point my grandparents bought the store and they moved into the back house to live…it was a long and solid run at running the store and living in the community that they had come to love. They were strong church community members, Annie Jones was lead singer in the choir with her powerful and amazing welsh singing voice, a true gift…when she wasn’t singing at some get together or special occasion – she could be found at the curling rink, an avid member of the Pitt Meadows team … - One of the combination church and community get togethers that I fondly remember was the big town Thanksgiving dinner at the Municipal Hall. I remember all the Turkeys lined up, the smell of gravy and vegetables… and there were all the area with more amazing looking homemade pies that any kid could ever imagine. That was one of my favourite community get togethers and May Day, of course, it ran a close 2nd…the parade down Harris Road – the floats where people would throw candy at the kids to catch…the dancing around the May pole, so fun and colourful…and there were usually strawberries and cake involved too…<\/div>\r\n
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Skipping to the early 70s…after Annie Jones, the love of my grand-dads life died…he was lonely…already the store was being taken over so there was less for him to do, his friends were passing on too…so he stayed on a few years and finally he decided to leave and more nearer to other relatives and friends to life…he sold the store maybe about the early to mid 1970s. Jim attempted to modernize the store and treat it like a mini mart and he did the yellow paint do over and put that hokey sign on the front. Jim was not a nephew but a relative only by way of marriage, as a son in law. He married one of the daughters Carol. I lived there until 1968 when I moved away to go to university. Obviously, I still have a soft spot in my heart for those good days of my childhood. I loved spending part of every day in the store and to see all the interesting people that passed through the store. It was never just a store but in its own way a little hub of the community where people came to buy things but also where many people of the town met and shared their lives, especially in the pre phone days…my favourite kid type jobs were serving the ice cream creations at the soda fountain, sorting the comics, and helping at the candy counter. ? – good kid memories of Jones store – Davie Jones Locker and Confectionary, Pitt Meadows<\/div>\r\n
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On Facebook from Colleen Graham (Thank you Colleen!)<\/i><\/div>","SEO_LINK":"david-jones-confectionary-davie-jones-locker","VIDEO_LINK":"","SOUNDCLOUD_LINK":"","IMG1":"","IMG2":"","IMG3":"","IMG4":"","IMG5":"","IMG6":"","IMG7":"","IMG1_THUMB":"","IMG2_THUMB":"","IMG3_THUMB":"","IMG4_THUMB":"","IMG5_THUMB":"","IMG6_THUMB":"","IMG7_THUMB":""}X
David Jones Confectionary (Davie Jones Locker)
The store was located just a few buildings away from the museum on the same side of the street towards the south. I believe it was the Struthers family home [Museum editor's note: the Struthers' homes were -- parents and one son lived in what is now the Museum site and the other two sons had their own home, one on Ford Road and the other on the west side of Harris in what is now the Bergstrom Acadamy building] and their [Museum editor's note: and the Hoffmann family's] wonderful woods that was just across the street. It was originally called Jones Confectionery. Prior to it becoming a Confectionary and grocery it was a garage with mechanic etc. It was gradually converted over the years into a full grocery and a whatever you have on hand to sell or what people want you to sell country store. It became very eclectic… In the early years they retained the original high old glass top gas pumps out fron[t] of the store that were from the original Garage for many years. These tall glass top pumps were eventually removed, and a newer style of short metal gas pumps were put in - @ in the 50s to the right (northside) of the store and were used for gas fill-ups into the 1960s. I’m not sure if they were kept into the 70s. In the 50s-60s there was a shiny coffee counter with chrome accents and had high swivel green leather soda seats. They sold milk shakes, sodas, floats, banana splits drizzled with caramel and strawberry sauces with special ice cream wafers on the side…and of course there was pop, like coke served in original coca cola glasses, orange crush, root beer, 7-up, there were other odd brands in the soda cooler like kik cola, mountain dew, fanta, Kickapoo joy juice, grape crush, pink cream soda, etc…at the small counter there was also sanka instant coffee served with tinned carnation mild and homemade cookies or sandwiches. The original Confectionery area was a combination of a Candy counter, Soda service, Lunch counter, cigarettes & confections. The confectionary was first created for a serving area those who came to get gas. People would stay and chat and refresh themselves with lunch or treats. It was an early social centre for those that wanted a refreshment break, smoke a cigarette and get caught up on the latest town gossip…the grocery part grew larger along the way and the soda counter shrunk to a couple of stools that people would hand around on and chat… and then of course there were comics, magazines, and pocketbooks area and all the gossip rags of the day. Jones’ store had the biggest and best selection in town… Davie Jones was also a butcher and there was a full meat locker in the back storeroom and out front in the store a cooler counter with full selection from steaks, shops, burger meat to slice lunch meats, sausages and cheeses, etc. a real gourmet buffet of foods…
Myself I love the old fashioned, eclectic assortment of things and I think that the store looked much better when Davey Jones owned it when it was a nice cozy home-style country store. Greet everyone with a smile and how do you do? Have a nice day! ...he loved the store with his heart and soul and opened it everyday before 8 am and closed at 9pm. Can you believe, he would even open it on Christmas Day! At great protest from us in the back house, I can tell you…he just would chuckle and say…its just for a few hours, people need to get their fresh milk and bread…on a good year we usually managed to get him to close around noon or a big. He was such a character. He would always put up a Christmas display on the roof of the store. A big affair. There was a large sleigh with three sets of double reindeers – a big Santa and 4 foot lit up Candles, a few Xmas trees with strands of lights and lights all around the doors and windows. I wished I had a photo of the Christmas decorations. It was quite a fun sight! In his spare time? ? – He was on town council, school boards, and was actively involved in many aspects of Pitt Meadows with others who cared and kept the town moving forward with vision. I am really understating the extent of what he did at this time in his life as it was a huge part of his life and I was a kid and just watched more than I understood at the time, it would take getting older to understand better many of the things he accomplished. David Jones had a very strong character with a solid work ethic and was tirelessly devoted to and proud of the community of Pitt Meadows and of his work within it. A natural leader. He dedicated himself to the establishment of schools and continued improving educational opportunities for all children, with a hope and an eye towards the future where more children could have an education and take their place in the world better prepared for what may come at them and to live a better life, because of education and hopefully also give back to making the world a better place…
His beloved wife Annie Jones died about @1970. They married as young teenagers in Penygroes in Northern Wales before immigrating to Alberta in the early 30s where they began living in a thriving all Welsh settlement, farming community called “wood river” that was situated outside of the Ponoka area. I think they were there @ 10 years. They had a family of two children while there; Rob and Marie. Uncle Rob served in WW2 and became a train engineer. He would always double toot the horn when he did a train run through Pitt Meadows. Marie moved to Pitt Meadows, living with them…Dave and Annie Jones were friends of Kitty and Harold Sutton, some how, some way they came to move to Pitt Meadows, I think that was in the early 40s. First they lived on the Sutton farm with Kitty and Harold for a while and another daughter came into the world, Carol…
Skipping ahead…. And then at some point my grandparents bought the store and they moved into the back house to live…it was a long and solid run at running the store and living in the community that they had come to love. They were strong church community members, Annie Jones was lead singer in the choir with her powerful and amazing welsh singing voice, a true gift…when she wasn’t singing at some get together or special occasion – she could be found at the curling rink, an avid member of the Pitt Meadows team … - One of the combination church and community get togethers that I fondly remember was the big town Thanksgiving dinner at the Municipal Hall. I remember all the Turkeys lined up, the smell of gravy and vegetables… and there were all the area with more amazing looking homemade pies that any kid could ever imagine. That was one of my favourite community get togethers and May Day, of course, it ran a close 2nd…the parade down Harris Road – the floats where people would throw candy at the kids to catch…the dancing around the May pole, so fun and colourful…and there were usually strawberries and cake involved too…
Skipping to the early 70s…after Annie Jones, the love of my grand-dads life died…he was lonely…already the store was being taken over so there was less for him to do, his friends were passing on too…so he stayed on a few years and finally he decided to leave and more nearer to other relatives and friends to life…he sold the store maybe about the early to mid 1970s. Jim attempted to modernize the store and treat it like a mini mart and he did the yellow paint do over and put that hokey sign on the front. Jim was not a nephew but a relative only by way of marriage, as a son in law. He married one of the daughters Carol. I lived there until 1968 when I moved away to go to university. Obviously, I still have a soft spot in my heart for those good days of my childhood. I loved spending part of every day in the store and to see all the interesting people that passed through the store. It was never just a store but in its own way a little hub of the community where people came to buy things but also where many people of the town met and shared their lives, especially in the pre phone days…my favourite kid type jobs were serving the ice cream creations at the soda fountain, sorting the comics, and helping at the candy counter. ? – good kid memories of Jones store – Davie Jones Locker and Confectionary, Pitt Meadows
On Facebook from Colleen Graham (Thank you Colleen!)
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Latitude: 49.2248311285964
Longitude: -122.68913399566
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