Groceteria.com

From another post:

The Safeway in Blythe was converted to a Ford dealership. It closed before Vons took over.

Blythe was the victim of supermarket mergers/closedowns...at one time it had Safeway, Albertsons, Alpha Beta, and Mega Foods...today the only big grocer in town is Albertsons.(and whatever grocery items are available at the Blythe KMart)

Just passed through Blythe...

Noticed that the former Albertsons and Thrifty Drug are sitting vacant.

The newer Albertsons (basically across the street) is still open. Next door was a PayLess Drug...as the clue is the former garden center in the front. The site is currently RiteAid.

It is odd that Wal-Mart has not entered Blythe (a city of around 10,000)-an understored, isolated town. The closest big city is Yuma.

On the way back...was able to swing again through the booming Blythe.

Had not looked at the Ford dealer...until I found the other posting.

Yup. Indeed had been a grocery store.

Will try to actually stop into the dealer next time to see if there are any remnants from Safeway.

What is funny tho...is that the American car companies closed a number of dealers across the country. There are enough Fords sold in Blythe to warrant a dealer?!

jamcool wrote:It is odd that Wal-Mart has not entered Blythe (a city of around 10,000)-an understored, isolated town. The closest big city is Yuma.

And for weirder yet: Parker, Az which is maybe only 30-40 miles N of Blythe has a Wal-Mart, a nice Safeway and a Bashas--------yet has only ca. 3K people. Admittedly; Parker's hinterland is spread out but still.........

Blythe: OTOH; is half dead and I'm being polite.

Dean wrote:On the way back...was able to swing again through the booming Blythe.

Had not looked at the Ford dealer...until I found the other posting.

Yup. Indeed had been a grocery store.

Will try to actually stop into the dealer next time to see if there are any remnants from Safeway.

What is funny tho...is that the American car companies closed a number of dealers across the country. There are enough Fords sold in Blythe to warrant a dealer?!

The Calif/Az border (Colorado River) till recently has quite a few Ford dealerships just N of Blythe: Parker, Lake Havasu City, Needles and Bullhead City. The Needles store is now gone.

Dean wrote: The Safeway in Blythe was converted to a Ford dealership. It closed before Vons took over.

Are you sure it closed before the Vons takeover? I just looked at Google Maps, and that parcel is still labeled as "Vons Shopping Center".

submariner wrote:

Dean wrote: The Safeway in Blythe was converted to a Ford dealership. It closed before Vons took over.

Are you sure it closed before the Vons takeover? I just looked at Google Maps, and that parcel is still labeled as "Vons Shopping Center".

I pulled that line from within another thread...so I cannot confirm that it had become VONS or not.

Yet, currently, there is indeed a Ford dealer there...and it is obvious it had been a market.

submariner wrote:The Safeway in Blythe was converted to a Ford dealership. It closed before Vons took over.

The Blythe store was still open in 1988 when Vons took over Safeway's Southern California division and I'm 99.9% it operated as a Vons for at least a couple years.

The Ford dealer mentioned is Larry Green Ford.

It is a honey of a site!

You can certainly tell it was a market from the facade and the parking lot.

The entry/exit doors are still there...that lead to the "showroom" in the front right corner.

The back of the store is the service area. The large clock from the store...yup...is still up there...on the wall!

Quite a site!

The RiteAid, as previously noted, is a former PayLess Drug. I assume built under KMart's ownership...as the store is huge. The stores had become basically smaller KMarts with a pharmacy!

The site received the RiteAid color package. After the change, you can tell that they decided to "shrink" the store in about 12 feet. Along the left-hand wall...they pulled the shelving out, and created a storage area. I can see over/through the shelving. The paint striping is along the wall.

I assume they realize that they don't need all the space.