Produce dynasty to close

By Lachlan Ellis

‘Jeff Jones Plants & Produce’ has been a name synonymous with Bacchus Marsh’s Avenue of Honour for more than three decades, but the shop will be shutting its doors permanently later this year.

Also known affectionately as ‘Jonesy’s’, the shop has been run by Jeff and Glenda Jones for 35 years, with help from their family in recent times.

Ms Jones said closing the shop would be a bittersweet moment for the family, but she has treasured memories of “our wonderful customers and staff”.

“It is a bit of a wrench…I’m looking forward to it now, at first it felt a bit premature, and I wasn’t ready. Making the decision was hard, but there’s a lot of reasons right across the board, age being probably the most predominant,” Ms Jones told the Moorabool News.

“Our eldest son Anthony drew the line in the sand, he wants to move on, and I can’t run the place without him. My favourite things about running the shop are our customers and staff, they’ve been my life. Some of the most treasured memories I have are of the young people that have come to work for us, hopefully we gave them a good work ethic and some confidence to deal with the public.

“They’ve all gone on and done wonderful things. We’ve employed two generations of families, for one family in particular we’ve employed all their children. It’s been very rewarding watching them mature.”

Jonesy’s will officially close on 27 November, with the space to be reserved for Smokehouse 720 diners if the business wants to do undercover dining.

“If Michael from the Smokehouse wants to, it’s there for him to use. I’ve told him that I’ll be over there working for him, whether he likes it or not. I threatened the strawberry farm that I’d go over and annoy them too,” Ms Jones joked.

“I haven’t got any retirement plans at the moment, I’ve just lived for this place. I’ve got nothing I want to do, I don’t want to travel, I may do two small trips, but I’ve got no major ambitions.”

After all the highs and lows of running a business, and both bumper crops and poor harvests, Ms Jones said she’s looking forward to most is waking up in the morning and thinking “what will I do today?”

“After a couple of weeks of that though, I might be going stir crazy,” she laughed.

Ms Jones thanked the many local supplies and business customers who have worked with Jonesy’s over the years, including, but certainly not limited to: Naturipe, Tripod Farmers, Ben and Erin Peelman, Rancho Relaxo, Parwan Valley Mushrooms, Mount Blackwood Berries, YMCA Lake Dewar and Lady Northcote, Halls Gap Zoo, and The Plough.