On this site, Timmons garage stood in 1918 until Albert Tone, an accountant and Gilbert's first mail carrier, bought it from Mr. Timmons and entered business with Charles M. Blakely repairing Model T Ford automobiles. In 1924 Blakely took the business, and Tone kept the property and demolished the garage. In 1929 Tone erected the building as Safeway-Pay'N Takit store #37, which opened on Friday, July 19, 1929, as Gilbert's most modern store at the time, but bank failures in America later that year forced it out of business. From 1930 onward the building served many purposes. The Gilbert Valley Theater opened there in 1936, offering double features with world newsreels and cartoons for 14 cents. Later uses included a dinner theater, a game center, an archery range, a deli, and a church. In the late 50's Albert Serrano Jr. operated a shirt and baby shoe factory there. The Johnston family bought the building in 1996, and in January 1998 Joe Johnson, Tad Peelen, and Tim Peelen opened Joe's Real BBQ, which became a Gilbert restaurant landmark and one of the valley's most popular eateries.