Confluence Foodmart closes for good
It looks like Confluence is losing its local independent grocery store with the recent closing of the Confluence Foodmart on Williams Street. News & Views founder Larry Walsh reported earlier that the store was closing Feb. 28 for six months for major HVAC repairs, totaling $500,000, but the store’s website now says it’s closed permanently….
It looks like Confluence is losing its local independent grocery store with the recent closing of the Confluence Foodmart on Williams Street.
News & Views founder Larry Walsh reported earlier that the store was closing Feb. 28 for six months for major HVAC repairs, totaling $500,000, but the store’s website now says it’s closed permanently. Tyrone, Blair County-based Jay Narayan 1 LLC owns the 12,700-square-food store.
Ghanshyambhi Patel and Sudha Dahiya ran the store along with other partners who also owned convenience stores and motels. The couple’s relationship to Jay Narayan 1 LLC was unclear and efforts to reach them were unsuccessful.
Jay Narayan 1 LLC is a small regional real estate outfit, founded in 2020, with a convenience store and other properties in Altoona, Huntingdon and Clearfield counties, according to public records.
Confluence FoodMart traces its roots to the 1960s when it was a full-service grocery store, serving the Turkeyfoot Valley under the Acme and Foodland brands. Jonathan and Aimee Jacobs sold the store to Jay Narayan 1 LLC in Mary 2024 for $400,000, according to real estate records.
Jon Jacobs was a longtime pharmacist and store owner in Confluence who said he was forced out of business by big pharmacy benefit managers who reimbursed him for drugs at rates that were lower than his cost of dispensing them to patients. PBMs manage prescription drug benefit plans for insurers and companies.
It was a common complaint among pharmacists in western and central Pennsylvania, where some 1,100 drugstores closed between 2020 and 2025, according to Spotlight PA, a nonprofit digital news platform based in Harrisburg.
After the sale, Confluence FoodMart reopened without the drugstore, but seemed to struggle with limited selection and display cases that were often near empty. The store also faced stiff competition a few blocks away from Dollar General on Casselman Street, which offered longer hours of operation and a wider selection.
The store is in the process of converting to DG Market, which is owned by Dollar General and offers a larger selection of fresh produce and grocery items.
Tennessee-based Dollar General has more than 20,000 stores in the U.S., including many that have opened in small towns and rural areas. Dollar Generals can exert competitive pressure on independently owned stores by buying huge volumes of goods at lower prices than independents can and running leaner operations with limited staff.