Mesa council action brings first ‘Terrible’s’ to East Valley

A Terrible’s convenience store with a fuel station has received the green light from the Mesa City Council to go up near the southwest corner of South Crismon Road and East Hampton Avenue in Council District 5.

KFH Crismon & Hampton LLC was requesting that the council approve rezoning the 1.3-acre site from planned employment park with a planned area development overlay to limited commercial.

At its Monday meeting, the council unanimously voted to approve the rezoning, as well as a site plan review and a special-use permit. The rezoning was on the council’s consent agenda in which all items are handled through one motion and vote.

The ordinance to approve the rezoning was first introduced at the council’s Oct. 26 meeting.

It is Terrible’s first convenience store in the East Valley. The Nevada-based company has Valley locations in Phoenix and Peoria. It also serves California, Nevada and Utah.

The Mesa convenience store will be 4,689 square feet and the fuel canopy station will be 4,156 square feet.

A special-use permit is required because the Terrible’s includes a fuel station.

“Along the east side of the building is the main entrance with an amenity and along the west side of the building are benches, wall art and landscaping facing the residential development to the west of the site,” according to a staff report.

The store will also have pedestrian pathways circling the building and connecting to the residential site to the west and to the public sidewalk along Crismon Road.

The convenience store and fuel station were discussed by the council during its Oct. 22 study session.

Councilmember Alicia Goforth, who represents Council District 5, said at the Oct. 22 meeting that she was still fundamentally opposed to the Terrible’s rezoning request because it would mean “giving up more planned employment parcels.”

“I don’t like doing that and we don’t have many,” Goforth said. “I understand this was a small part of a larger (planned employment parcel) and I’m not sure that it makes sense to preserve an acre and a half or whatever it is. I understand that.”

Goforth also said she was concerned about bringing a “vehicle-heavy service station” to the area.

On Sept. 23, 2026, the city’s planning and zoning board unanimously voted to recommend the rezoning, site plan and special-use permit request to council.

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.