Bashas Grocery StoresBashas’ Inc. is a supermarket and superstore chain that has stores all over Arizona, California, and New Mexico, but most of them are in Arizona, where about a third of the 130 locations are in the Phoenix area. They also own and operate six markets in the Navajo Nation, as well as a grocery store on the Internet called Groceries On The Go.

History
The Basha family, who founded the chain in 1932, owns the company. In 1886, the owner Najeeb Basha first visited the U.S. from Lebanon. Later in 1910, he and his wife, Najeeby, settled in Arizona and opened a mercantile, but the first one to actually bear the Basha names opened in Goodyear, Arizona in 1932 as a place for the employees of J.G. Boswell to buy supplies using company scrip instead of money. Today’s CEO is Eddie Basha Jr, Eddie’s son.

The first store in 1932 was designed to serve the needs of its customers. Besides groceries, they carried blankets, axes, and gasoline. The format for this country store type of environment lasted for more than 20 years. When this store was a success, they began to open others in Arizona.

In the 1950s stores started carrying more things and were called supermarkets instead of just grocery stores. They carried a wide variety of products in addition to food products. By 1968 they were up to 17 stores, and in 1991 the company built a 125,000 square foot perishables warehouse to store all their frozen products since they were doing so well. In the following year, they opened a 325,000-square-foot dry grocery facility, which became their distribution location, and in 1993 they added their own health and beauty care depot to the mix.

During the 1990s they began acquiring other chains, including AJ’s Fine Foods in 1992, which was an upscale store that sold gourmet product, wine and bakery items. And in 1993, they bought the Food City store in Phoenix, which is designed to cater to the Hispanic community. They also have one other place, the Mercado stores, that cater to Hispanics and are in southern Arizona.

They continued to do new things, as in 1994 they added a video rental department with displays of more than 5,000 tapes in the store. That same year they became the first store to use the In-Floor Advertising Unit, which was 2ft by 2ft tiles with ads from national brand manufacturers as an additional profit capability. At the end of that year they were up to 67 locations, and by 1996 that rose to 73. That year they bought another chain, the MegaFoods stores, which caused their number of stores to rise to 89, which meant they were the biggest grocery provider in Arizona at that time.

By 1999, they had continued success with annual sales of more than one billion dollars, which was a 100 percent increase in only 7 years of operation. By then they had moved into Mexico and California besides staying in Arizona.

Then, by the 21st century, Basha had added their online grocery operation, Groceries on the Go, and they continue to be successful in that market as well as their brick and mortar stores.

Stats
Headquarters: 22402 South Basha Road, Chandler, Arizona 85248
Basha is a private company and was incorporate in 1932
Stores: 165 (counting the banner stores)
Sales: $1 billion (1998 est.)
Employees: 11,000
Geography: Arizona, New Mexico, California
Demography: Hispanic, Navajo, gourmet shoppers,
Special services: gourmet foods, ethnic foods, bakery products, video store, online groceries, pharmacy, and more.

Banners
Bashas’ also operates under the following names:
Mercado
Food City
Bashas’ Markets
AJ’s Fines Foods
Eddie’s Country Stores

Brands
Bashas, ValueTime, Paws, TopCare, Dos Ranchitos, FullCircle and Food Club are their private labels.

Important links
Corporate Home Page
Online Shopping – NA
Circular and Specials
Jobs and Careers
Store Locations
Management