Grocer recalls rise on 25th anniversary

As Rick Crawford prepares to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Green Valley Grocery chain, he is not too surprised at how much Henderson has grown since he opened his first store in American Nevada Co.'s Green Valley Plaza. It was 1978 and the Green Valley master-planned community was in its infancy.

"Back then people thought it was a rather isolated location, but I believed that the growth was heading toward the southeastern part of the valley," Crawford said. "When I met with representatives of American Nevada Co., I was very impressed with the proposed development plans they had for the community. So, I took a chance on Green Valley Plaza and I'm glad I did."

The plaza was built at the southeast corner of Sunset Road and Green Valley Parkway which, in 1978, "was a little stretch of paved road connecting Sunset to Warm Springs (Road), and I believe there were only about 120 homes in the area," he said.

Crawford came to Southern Nevada in 1971 as a representative for Southland Corp., parent company of the 7-Eleven convenience store franchise. In the ensuing years, he recognized the growth potential of Southern Nevada and decided to stake a claim in the convenience store business.

"Green Valley was something very different in Southern Nevada and we wanted to position ourselves as something different among the typical convenience store chains," he said. "While Green Valley offered the first opportunity for master-planned living, we wanted to offer a convenience store with more variety, more competitive pricing and more personalized customer service.

"In the early days, we had a lot of construction workers, and they pretty well carried the store until the population started building up. Then the residents started showing up and they have been faithful customers ever since."

Green Valley Grocery has 23 stores in the Las Vegas area and one in Pahrump.

The company employs 175 people, including Crawford's sons, Edward and David, who hold management positions.

American Nevada Co. holds a commercial portfolio of 2.1 million square feet and has more than 5 million additional square feet planned for development in office, retail, industrial, hotel, gaming and medical projects. Through its affiliates, the company is a partner in Silver Canyon Partnership, developer of Seven Hills in Henderson; and the managing member of North Valley Enterprises, developer of Aliante in North Las Vegas.

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