For 26 years, Richard Jensen and his family ran a little store on a big corner with even bigger history.
At the corner of East Sahuarita Road and South Nogales Highway, the Jensens sold groceries and whatnot, dispensed greetings to longtime customers and gave directions to lost motorists. But that all ended last month when Jensen closed his 1-Stop convenience store as business withered away.
"The economy is in the sewer," said Jensen, who also owns a concrete contracting company.
But this is more than the closing of a corner store. A cornerstone of Sahuarita's history went away, too.
The southwest corner was long a stopping point for travelers between Tucson and Nogales. Before the construction of Interstate 19 in the late 1960s, it was one of a few spots along the two-lane road.
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Jensen, who moved to the area in 1958 from a Chicago suburb, said old-timers told him a building has been on the corner since 1915. He said part of the store was originally a produce packing house. It also housed the area's first post office.
By the time Jensen bought the store from Lee Yoder, in 1982, the bulk of the Nogales-Tucson traffic was on I-19.
But customers continued to frequent the store.
Jensen said most of his customers were workers in new-home construction. Green Valley was still growing and Sahuarita's growth was still years away.
"My customers were every-day people, average working people," he said.
He bought the store for more than business reasons. Jensen, 71, said he saw the store as a place where his five children could work. Eventually his grandchildren worked at the store.
"It was good for my family," he added.
Jensen didn't limit his time to his businesses, however.
He helped lead the successful drive to incorporate Sahuarita in September 1994. He was a member of the Sahaurita Area Council that preceded incorporation and was treasurer for Green Valley Assistance Services, a social service agency. Jensen also served on the Sahuarita Unified School District board and the Pima County Planning and Zoning Commission.
Although the Sahuarita economy continues to hold on despite the overall lagging regional economy, Jensen said he saw signs of a declining economy more than a year ago.
Fewer construction workers were stopping at the store, he said.
"I tried for a year in hopes things would pick up," he said.
He weathered some previous dips in the economy but this recession will be more serious than others, he added.
Some longtime customers urged him to stick it out. But he said no.
The building is coming down anyway, Jensen added.
Farmers Investment Co., which owns the pecan groves around Sahuarita and has its offices across Nogales Highway, owns the building and corner. Jensen said the building will be razed to make room for the future widening and relocation of the intersection.
"I was hoping to stay with it until it went down," he said.
Jensen, looking back, expressed no regrets.
"I had a good run," he said.
