By Andrew Wagstaff
The Record
PARSBORO - Many business people have come and gone on Main Street during the past 30 years, but Joan Jones has been and continues to be one of the mainstays.
Jones, who owns and operates popular gift shop Sweet Brier Boutique, was honoured with the Business of the Year Award from the Parrsboro and District Board of Trade at its annual meeting on March 17.
Jones, who plans to celebrate her third decade in business sometime this summer, said it was "quite an honour" to be recognized.
"I believe in Parrsboro, and the downtown area is so important," she said. "I would certainly like to see everything full... all the businesses. There is just no comparison when there are no vacancies on the street. There's much more buzz."
It all started in 1980, when Jones spotted a for sale sign in the window of the Parrsboro Flower Shop. From here originally but living away at the time, she started inquiring, and within two weeks the deal was done.
She operated the flower shop for more than a decade, and then converted it to a gift shop during the mid-1990s, renaming it Sweet Brier Boutique.
Changing the name of the shop was not quite as easy it might seem. The registry rejected the name under its original spelling (Briar with an "a") because there was already a bookstore existing under that name. It was a former MLA for the area who advised her to change the spelling, thereby solving the problem.
"Guy Brown helped me change that within 10 minutes," she said, laughing. "It really was unbelievable."
She credits her longevity in business to the loyal patronage from customers both here and away.
Sweet Brier Boutique named bussiness of year
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Published on
March 31, 2010
- Published on April 5, 2010
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