The 100th birthday of Glebe Road resident Vivienne Jones today is cause for celebration in her tight-knit Pembroke community.It is also an occasion to rally around Jones Dry Goods Store. Ms Jones once supervised the business and lives a few doors down from it.“I am sure you all agree this is a lovely spot,” Ms Jones said, resting on her porch overlooking North Shore.“Isn’t it a beautiful day? I feel very blessed to have this.”Addressing Ms Jones as ‘Queen of the Hill’, a passing neighbour stopped to say hello.Known also as Miss Jones or ‘Aunt V’, Vivienne Mary Lorina Jones has become an icon of her community, largely through the 75 years her store has been in operation.It was opened by her father Walter, a tailor, and mother Adelina. The store originally sold school uniforms and bolts of cloth.It was constructed at its present location by Ms Jones’ brother Albert, an electrician and mason who also built the family home.It is operated today by her great niece Renée Lewis and her husband Jeffrey, and sales assistant Kathey Parris.Determination has kept the store going, explained Mr Lewis.“She wanted the store to continue for a fourth generation, and people in the community were adamant there was no way this store could close.”The store was renovated and reopened last year.Said Mr Lewis: “The response was tremendous not just from this community, but from the entire Island.“People come here to get things they can’t find elsewhere, and they also come here to meet. Some of Auntie Viv’s traditional clients are bringing their children here, and their children’s children.”True to its name, Jones Dry Goods stocks whatever the community wants: doilies, bedsheets, herbal teas, clothing, knick-knacks, sweets and drinks.“It’s a challenge to find unique products that the first generation want as well as the third,” Mr Lewis said.To celebrate Bermuda’s latest centenarian Jones Dry Goods will launch 12 weeks of sales, starting next week. “We’re aware of how tough times are on the Island, and we’ve kept a lot of things going that Aunt V put in place to help people out.”Her tradition of “layaway” putting goods aside and then slowly paying them off has been retained.Well-known for helping families in need and giving to charities, Ms Jones has always been “someone who saw no reason why people should go without”, Mr Lewis said.“That’s what gives the place its charm. When we were doing renovations, we had customers coming in insisting that we make no changes on the inside. The one thing everybody wanted was to see the spirit of the place remain.”The design of the store has been kept as it was nearly 80 years ago, down to the latched door onto the side-alley.“The children love coming in here,” Ms Parris said. “People come up and down the street just to drop in and say hello. They just come in and sit down and talk. I’m originally from this area, so it was an honour for me to be invited to work here.”The store is even part of taxi tours, for older visitors who have cause to remember it.Today, hard of hearing and assisted by carer Jannah Muhammad, Ms Jones is largely content to enjoy her retirement.Greeting visitors earlier this week, she said: “You chaps have reminded me. I’d forgotten this birthday was coming.”Originally from Warwick and raised in The Glebe Road and St Monica’s Road neighbourhood, Ms Jones said she plans to spend today surrounded by family.“I am very pleased to have such a nice family,” she said. “I am blessed.”