Bashas'

Bashas' Inc.
Private
Industry Retail
Founded 1932
Headquarters Chandler, Arizona
Number of locations
 118 total (Bashas' 52; Food City 48; AJ's Fine Foods 11; Bashas' Dine Market 7)
Key people
 Edward Basha III, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
Products Grocery
Number of employees
 9,085
Website bashas.com
A Bashas' Supermarket in Arizona.

Bashas' is a family-owned grocery store chain, primarily located in Arizona, with one location outside the state in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Its headquarters are in unincorporated Maricopa County, Arizona, near Chandler.[1][2]

Overview

The Bashas' Family of Stores includes four distinct formats: Bashas', Bashas' Diné, AJ's Fine Foods and Food City. The company has more than 130 stores serving every county in Arizona and Crownpoint, New Mexico. The company had a location in California in the town of Needles that closed in May 2014.[3] The company recently added a new format called Bashas' Farmers Market. This newest format is only in Prescott, Payson, and Winslow. With all the layoffs in 2009 and store closures, Bashas' employees total approximately 8,500.

Bashas' has doubled in size in the last decade with stores under the Bashas' name, as well as AJ's Fine Foods, and Food City, bringing the total to more than 130 stores.

Most Bashas' stores are non-union; however, nine stores that Bashas' acquired from previous chains continue to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers, which campaigns against the chain. In October 2007, an Administrative Law Judge sided with the UFCW and an NLRB ruling that Bashas' violated federal law by withdrawing recognition to the UFCW at the inherited stores .

Bashas' also has a Distribution Center, located in Chandler, which includes over 16 acres (65,000 m2) of under-roof space, as well as a full mechanic shop. The perishables area of the Center is temperature- and climate-controlled and includes ripening rooms and areas that vary in temperature from a base temperature of 55 °F year-round to freezer rooms of -10 °F.

History

Najeeb Basha immigrated to the United States from Lebanon in 1886; he and his wife Najeeby moved to Arizona in 1910. The family struggled for years in retail sales in the Arizona mining towns of Ray and Sonora, facing numerous setbacks, but remained determined in succeeding. The first store to officially incorporate the Bashas' name opened in 1932 in Goodyear, Arizona, as a company store, where employees of J. G. Boswell could purchase groceries with company scrip. Bashas' was founded by Najeeb and Najeeby's sons, Ike and Eddie Basha, Sr. Upon the death of Eddie Sr., leadership was taken over by Eddie Basha, Jr.. Eddie Jr. died in March 2013,[4] and the CEO is now Eddie Jr.'s son, Eddie Basha III.

In March 2014 Bashas' named Edward Basha III, President, CEO and Chairman of the Board. Darl Andersen, who had been President and CEO will assume the role of Executive Adviser to the President and Chairman. Edward Basha III was formerly Vice President, Retail Operations. Robert Ortiz will assume the role of Senior Vice President, Operations. Ortiz was previously Vice President, Sales and Marketing and will be succeeded by Jim Vaughan with the title of Senior Vice President, Procurement and Marketing. He had been President of the Super Saver group of stores. In addition, Don Ulrich has been named Executive Chief Operating Officer. .[5]

Chapter 11 filing

On July 12, 2009, Bashas' filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, citing the weak economy, increased competition, and their ongoing legal fight with the UFCW union. In doing so, the company plans on closing ten under-performing Bashas' and Food City stores. The company emerged from bankruptcy in late 2010. The Chapter 11 plan provided for payment in full of all creditors.

Slogans

Slogans include:

Store names

AJ's Fine Foods

AJ's Fine Foods are gourmet and specialty stores. The stores feature chef-prepared entrees, an extensive wine collection with trained cellar staff, and specialty baked goods. These are the few former Bayless Markets left.

Bashas'

Bashas' Supermarkets are traditional grocery stores.

Bashas' Diné Markets

Bashas' Diné Markets are located on the Navajo Nation.[6] They specialize in the needs of Navajo customers with products such as Blue Bird flour for fry bread, mutton and wool. Stores are labeled in both Navajo and English.

Food City

Food City was acquired by Bashas' in 1993. Since acquiring the original Food City store, numerous Bashas' stores (including many of the oldest locations dating from the 1950s and '60s) have been converted to this format. Food City offers a full variety of ethnic and Hispanic food choices. Although there is nothing in the name that suggests that the store focuses on Hispanic foods, inside most stores offer numerous Hispanic-themed foods. Some of these stores were also previously Bayless Markets.

In response, Kroger-owned Fry's Food and Drug, another Arizona competitor, has launched "Fry's Mercado" as a competitor to the Hispanic food market.

The Food City locations outside of Arizona are unrelated.

References

  1. ↑ "Chandler city, Arizona Archived September 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on October 12, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Contact Information." Bashas'. Retrieved on October 12, 2011. "Bashas' Corporate Offices 22402 S. Basha Road Chandler, AZ 85248 "
  3. ↑ Denevan, Jennifer (2014-03-28). "Bashas' says store was not profitable". Mohave Valley Daily News. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-03-31. Retrieved 2013-04-18. Eddie Basha obituary
  5. ↑ AndNowUKnow
  6. ↑ Bashas' Supplier Proposal Package Archived September 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.. Page 4. Accessed 2010-04-28.

Further reading

External links

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