As a youngster, Ashley Jongsma loved going with her parents to Granville Island to purchase soups, stocks and dressings from The Stock Market. “We were living in Ontario at the time, but each visit to my grandparents in Vancouver included a trip to Granville Island,” she notes. "I especially have such great memories of shopping at The Stock Market at Christmas. It’s when my parents bought turkey gravy, cranberry sauce and the chicken noodle soup.”
In 2004, Ashley moved to B.C. Nostalgic for The Stock Market, she found her way to Granville Island on a regular basis, yearning for those flavours from her childhood. In 2010, the young married mother learned that the previous owners, Georges and Joanne Lefebvre, were ready to retire. Before long, she was on the phone with her dad. “I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” she explains. “When I was growing up, my parents owned hotels, bars and restaurants in a small city in Ontario. I called my dad to ask him if I should buy The Stock Market and he said 'absolutely.'”
