When I think of Warren Jones, I think community. He is the most community minded business owner I know, and one of the nicest. From sponsoring the Aquafest Alligator races in the lake during the 1980's & 90's, to taking 1,000's of free pictures of trick-or-treaters who came to the downtown Lake Stevens Safe Halloween Event, year after year.

Warren really has a heart of gold. He gave back to the community who in turn supported Jay's Market. He gave the downtown center its "Center". He created a very nice local market where people could shop and stop and visit with their neighbors. Warren comes from a grocery background. His Father was President of Associated Grocers. He purchased Jay's Market from Ad Shoudy in the late 70's and never looked back. He immediately went to work on improving his store which was formerly called Adams. One thing Warren did not do away with was the old fashion customer service. He worked very hard and many, many hours to become a successful smaller grocery store. That's how he built his business at Jay's Market. (cont. below)

The Lake Stevens community has always been paramount to Warren. He really wanted Lake Stevens to have a positive image. He cared about the people who he came to know as his customers and friends. He wanted to see good things happen that would make Lake Stevens a better place to live, work and prosper. This was one of the factors for his service to the LS Chamber of Commerce as a board of directors in a three year term; in addition to his involvement with the Lions and Kiwanis.

Warren was always willing to put an announcement on his reader board or lend a helping hand where he could. One could always check out Jay's big reader board to see if someone in town was turning 50! Or if our local football team won a big game. He used his reader board to promote local events or fundraisers. It was Free publicity the locals could count on.

Warren Jones made Jay's Market a hometown grocery store; a real piece of Americana.

As he looks toward retirement, I know he will be missed by our community. Thank you Warren for all the human kindness you've shown throughout your career at Jay's. And thanks for leaving us proof that good old fashion hometown customer service does pay off in the long run. Your legacy will be remembered fondly, and that's better than any gold pen!