Jeanie’s Market & Bakery Your Home away from Home!

BY ALYSSA MAHADEO

Jeanie’s Market & Bakery, located at 3355 The Collegeway in Mississauga, is your destination for the finest in Jamaican foods and quality ingredients that will make you feel as though you have never left home!

Jean and Neville Buckley founded Jeanie’s Market in 2002. They were both born and raised in Jamaica before migrating to Canada with their family in 1989. Jean had always dreamed of opening her own store in Canada with the hopes of bringing back the feeling of ‘back home’ and the authentic atmosphere of the Caribbean islands. They created for themselves a home away from home with a warm and pleasant environment that reminded people of a storefront in Jamaica. Whenever you walk into Jeanie’s, you are greeted with familiarity by the warmth of her staff.

Keeping with the idea of bringing the taste of Jamaica to Canada, they took over a bakery in 2008, and enjoyed the experience of dealing with people and making a difference in the community. The bakery produces a variety of baked goods that are highly enjoyed in the Caribbean, with tasty favorites such as: Bulla, Rock Buns, Plantain Tarts, Rum Cakes, Sweet Potato Pudding, Toto, Patties, Corn bread, Bran Bread, Peg Bread, Spice Bun and their most popular item: Jamaican Hardo Bread. The Hardo Bread is one of Jamaica’s iconic baked goods that will most certainly bring back the reminiscences of being back home. Jeanie’s bakery offers nostalgic baked goods that are baked fresh everyday with only the finest ingredients, which always has its customers coming back for more.

At Jeanie’s Market and Bakery, they are in the business of welcoming their customers like family. As you walk through their front doors, you can be sure that you will be greeted with a friendly, warm and welcoming smile. They ensure that every visit to their store is a memorable one and there is always the chance of meeting new friends or reminiscing while running into old ones. Through familiar conversations, there is always something you can learn from everyone, whether it be exchanging recipes, stories from the past, or hilarious jokes that will have you laughing till there are tears in your eyes.

Along side their freshly baked goods, Jeanie’s Market offers the freshest imported produce and fruits, fresh and pickled meats and an assortment of spices and seasonings catering to your every need. Jeanie’s vast variety of pickled meats include, mackerel, pig’s tail, pig’s snout, salt beef, salt beef ribs, pickled oxtail and corned pork to help you create the tastiest dishes straight from the islands. Jeanie’s will make you feel as though you picked everything fresh from your yard, back home on the rock. At Jeanie’s you can find aloe vera, avocado, breadfruit and roasted breadfruit (can be roasted by order on Fridays and Saturdays), callaloo, cho cho, coco, coconut, dasheen, scallion, green banana, seasonal mangoes, peppers, plantains, sorrel, sweet potatoes, seasonal sweet yam, thyme, white also known as negro yam, seasonal yampie and yellow yam.

Down at Jeanie’s they work hard to guarantee customer satisfaction. They carry an array of brand name products that are well known within the Caribbean community typically delivered on a weekly basis. The bulk of their produce is imported from Jamaica on a weekly basis and their bakery is well known for its fresh products that are baked onsite, always leaving the store filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread.

At Jeanie’s they are always doing their part to get involved with the community, especially in Canada and Jamaica. They are involved in a quite a few charities including Non-Such All-Age School in Portland, Jamaica, Peel Children’s Society in Brampton, their annual Backpack to School and finally Jeanie’s Christmas Wish Charity.  All of these charities are set in place to benefit many individuals within the community and without the help of the community; they would not be able to fulfill these commitments year after year.

The Non-Such All-Age School is a school close to their hearts at Jeanie’s. While living in Jamaica, Jean attended this school along with her sisters and brothers. This school is located in a rural part of Portland. It accommodates 100 students and currently has an enrollment of 70 students and five teachers. An Anglican Church houses the school and classrooms are divided by chalkboards. On the weekend, the school is transformed back into a church to accommodate members of the community. The building itself is in dire need of re-construction and also suitable learning equipment for the students and teachers. Their mission at Jeanie’s is to help with the building and with educational equipment for the students and teachers through your monetary donations.

The Peel Children’s Society is one of the largest organized non-profit institutions that services children in Canada. The services are free and private and offer family support, foster care and mental health support. The collected donations made at Jeanie’s for Peel Children’s Society help’s to ensure that these services remain available and to make living just a little bit easier on some of the foster families.

During Thanksgiving and Christmas, they put together a food drive to give families an opportunity to have a comfortable family experience for the holiday season. In addition, they try to fulfill children’s Christmas wishes from two local schools.

They urge the community to help in any way you can with any of these donations, and appreciate all donations as well as the continued support of those individuals that dedicate their efforts to giving back.

Jeanie’s Market and Bakery is open Monday to Saturday with the exception of Sunday offering the most sought after ingredients straight from the Caribbean. They have a supportive and welcoming team of Jean, her husband Neville, their daughter Allison and their niece Kimberly, all who have a warm, friendly and welcoming smile ready for when you come in. They are agents of Western Union, and Jamaica National, as well as Digicel, for all of your money transfer needs. They are also the only place in Toronto where you can pick up a bag of Sky Blue Mountain Coffee, straight from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica to satisfy your cravings. If you are ever in Mississauga, stop by Jeanie’s Market and Bakery to enjoy the tastes and feelings of those warm relaxing vibes of back home!