Out with the old and in with the?

Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: A Tank Solutions employee fills a hole that once held gasoline for the old Circle K.

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

SAFFORD – Now that the new mega-Circle K is operating at 1542 E. U.S. Highway 70, the store’s previous location just down the road at 1682 E. U.S. Highway 70 has been shuttered.

On Thursday, a crew from Tank Solutions of Peoria, which built the gas pumps for the new Circle K, was busy tearing out and filling in the hole of the previous location’s gas pumps.

While Circle K purchased and built its new site, the old location was on a long-term lease and the building does not belong to Circle K. So, rather than have the possibility of a gasoline competitor so close, the business took out the pumps and filled it in with gravel and sand.

Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: A Tank Solutions employee pushes gravel to fill in a hole that formerly was where the store’s gas pumps were located.

Circle K employees will continue to remove the rest of its items from inside the building next week, according to an employee of Tank Solutions, and then the building will be turned back over to the property owner.

The building will then be able to be transformed into something else, like the case of Toni’s Kitchen Pizzarama at 3310 W. Main St. in Thatcher, which was the previous site of a convenience store.

What would you like to see open up at the location? Leave your thoughts in the comments section on our Facebook post.