Bashas’ President Reflects on 90 Years of Being Part of the ‘Fabric of Arizona’

Bashas' Family of Stores, the family-owned grocer with more than 100 grocery stores under the Bashas', Bashas' Diné, Food City, AJ's Fine Foods and Eddie's Country Store banners, is preparing to celebrate 90 years of serving the Arizona community from July through September this year. Unofficially, celebrations kicked off this month with a “Show Us Your Bashas’ Love” campaign—through which Bashas’ customers and members can share stories, photos and videos of how the grocer has played an important role in their lives. WGB checked in with President Edward “Trey” Basha, asking him to share a few stories of his own. Basha reflected on the grocer’s ethos as a “hometown grocer,” the challenges and successes over the years, and what the December acquisition by Raley’s means for its future.

Edward "Trey" Basha

Kristina Hurtig: Have you seen any of the “Show Us Your Bashas’ Love” submissions, and if so, have any stuck out to you?

Edward “Trey” Basha: I have not seen any yet … but it's funny because a number of my friends and others have shared just real special remembrances of my grandfather, Eddie Sr., and also my dad, Eddie Jr., seeing him in the store, chatting with him in the store. He could not walk into one of our stores without being recognized by customers. And so, you know, I've [heard] some stories of people sharing how he helped them choose some produce or just took a little time to chat with them about how their families were and what was going on in their lives.

Part of Bashas’ history has been built around the motto, “Your Arizona hometown grocer.” Where did that messaging originate, and how has it evolved since the company began in 1932?

When my grandfather and great-uncle [Ike] opened the first store in 1932, there really weren't any chains. But over time, Arizona … especially the Phoenix metro area … has become chain-dominated. So the original mom-and-pop stores or small grocery stores were bought out. … And so Bashas’ over the years has become the last of the really hometown grocers. … I think that makes a difference as to who we are and how we operate.

I think we're more sensitive to our members' needs and our customers’ needs because of that. So it's something that we've cherished and that we've tried to make part of our DNA, and it really starts with my great-grandmother. She used to say that you have to give back to the community from which you drive your sustenance, and that is something that has filtered through the generations. And so we work very hard to give back, to be involved in the community and to have our members involved in the community, as well.

Can you talk a little bit more about how being family owned differentiates Bashas’ as a place to work?

We call everyone members; they're members of the family of the company. It really was my dad who started this; my dad was very egalitarian. As the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Bashas’, he would have the same health insurance that a full-time clerk had in our stores. So we worked very hard to try and not differentiate between the traditional lines of labor and management. We all work for the company, and the company is there to support all of us. One of the things we did is early on, we formed what we call the “member to member” program, where we have members of the company that sit on a board, and then all of the proceeds from the private-label soda machines in front of the stores, they go into a pool of money and when our members face hardship, they can make application to the “member to member” program.

So in those ways, we work very hard to try, within our ranks, to treat our members a little differently. We try and be more sensitive to their family needs and the other needs that they have. I can remember my dad visiting people in the hospital, reaching out to them after a tragedy. I can tell you that even today we celebrate five, 10, 15—five-year increments—years of service. And I personally sign all of the cards. And, if they're above 20 years, write a little special message. When we know of a loss of one of our members when they lose a loved one, if it's reported up to us, I send out a card, because my dad sent out cards, a sympathy card.

Looking back over the past 90 years, what would you say are some of Bashas’ greatest accomplishments?

I would tell you that one of my dad's greatest accomplishments that he wanted to be remembered for was bringing stores to the Navajo Nation. So that was a great accomplishment for him, personally; being able to bring fresh produce, fresh meat, bakery, deli items at a reasonable cost to the Navajo and provide employment to members of the Navajo Nation. And … we've grown. Now, we have nine stores there. … And so that is something that as a family we're very proud of and very privileged to be able to serve those communities.

There was a single operator here, Noah Billings, who had one store, Food City, that catered to the Hispanic population. And he came to my dad a number of years ago and said, “You know what, Eddie, I'm ready to sell.” And my dad said, “OK, Noah,” and he asked him, “Why did you come to me?” And Noah said to him, “Because I know you'll treat my people right.” And so we bought that store, and we've opened up now over 40 Food City stores to take care of the Hispanic population. We're very proud about that. We're proud about being involved in the communities over the last 90 years and being a part of the fabric of Arizona. We've grown with this state. And we are just so grateful for our customers and the way they've embraced us. And we've tried to embrace them back. …

Lastly, I'd say that just by growing and being able to provide jobs and careers. … Last month I signed a card for an individual, he’s been with us 50 years. But if you look at the number of people who have been with us 20 years and longer, it's humbling for me to realize that people have trusted us for that many years with employment to help provide for their families.

How do you work to build the careers of your members? What kind of initiatives do you have to support them?

We work very hard to promote from within. We work invite, induce and mentor individuals to grow. … A number of our upper management today started out as courtesy clerks in the store, and they grew with the company. So as we opened new stores, we provided opportunities for them to grow. We have in-house training programs for management. We participate with AFMA (Arizona Food Marketing Alliance) and WAFC (the Western Association of Food Chains) to provide scholarship dollars, not only to our members but also to their children as well, to their dependents. And we encourage education, and we encourage growth and truthfully, there are no limits to where you can be. Our senior vice president of operations started with us in the meat department as a meat cutter. … In truth, the grocery business is one of the last apprentice businesses left, where you can work your way through.

What have been some of the biggest challenges over the years and what did you or the company learn having gone through those moments?

For me personally, one of the biggest challenges was our Chapter 11 filing in 2009. If you recall in the latter half of 2008, we started an interim recession, and then it became very difficult in 2009; building here in Arizona just dropped off a cliff. And unfortunately, we were not able to come to an agreement with our lender group and they left us no other option but to file for Chapter 11. So that 13 months, from July of 2009 to August of 2010, was probably one of the most difficult years in my career here at the company. … We're so very grateful for the way the public supported us and also our members, but it was tough. I learned some valuable lessons; I learned how important human capital is to an organization. Frankly, we had expanded beyond our human capital. We had expanded too quickly. We were never in a monetary default, but we had taken a little too much debt. So we were in a covenant default with our lenders. So those were some lessons that we learned and thankfully, we paid everyone back. All of the claims that were submitted to the bankruptcy court and validated, we paid back a hundred cents on the dollar, plus interest. …

Being a regional player and fighting against the giants of the industry has always been difficult. We saw that even more so in COVID, where we were struggling to get supplies; to be able to have toilet paper and paper towels and food on the shelves. I’ll give you one example, because I was on all of the vendor calls with the vendors, I was silent and didn't have myself announced, but I wanted to hear what they were saying and telling our merchants. Well one national company said ... “We have eight SKUs for you.” We said, “OK, we'll take those eight SKUs.” And then after the call, I called our chief merchant and said, “I want you to go out to competition and see what they have.” So we sent our buyers out to our competitors, and one of the larger national competitors had 16 SKUs on their shelf, not eight. So next morning, we called this particular manufacturer and they said, “Oh yes, another eight SKUs just opened up for you.” Well, frankly, they were already on the shelf of our competition. …

In today’s market, workforce development and accessibility are very difficult. It's difficult to fill all the jobs that we have. We’ve put a lot of pressure on our current members, and they've stepped up through COVID in such an amazing way. I couldn't be more proud to be associated with them, but it's been difficult to fill vacant positions. So these are the challenges that a regional grocer faces. With the rise in prices and the current inflationary environment, we're seeing margin compression; we're not passing on all those cost increases directly to our customers. We're having to absorb some of those ourselves. So that's just kind of part and parcel. … There have been inflationary times in the past; there have been product disruption in the past; there's been [high] fuel prices in the past. So those things are cyclical and repeat themselves.

In December last year, Raley’s acquired Bashas’. How does this impact Bashas’ as it looks to the future? What changes or opportunities do you see arising from this deal?

The whole pandemic shined a very bright light on the inability of a small regional grocer to compete in a national environment. And so as a company, and as a family, we had to look introspectively and set our egos aside and say, “OK, what is best long term for our members and for our customers? What does the future look like?” And at that same time, I think Raley’s was making that same assessment, and they approached us and said, “We would like to buy the company,” and truthfully, that was a very difficult decision to make. But as I said, we set our egos aside and looked at it long term, and the combined buying power of the two companies was impressive and was something that—though it's not on the scale of an Albertsons/Safeway or a Kroger or Walmart— did raise both companies and give them a greater buying power.

The other part of that that was important to us is that Raley’s was family owned. And when we first sat down with Keith Knopf, the president of Raley’s, and his team, the first thing he chatted with us about is how they took care of their people. … Our philosophies of how we viewed our workforce, how we viewed our place in the community and being a part of the community, we're very much aligned. So as we look to the future, we felt that they would be very good stewards to our brands and our members would continue to be employed. … I just see it as a positive for our customers, our communities and our members.

Looking to the future, is there anything you can share regarding expansion plans, goals or ideas that you are hoping to implement?

On the digital side, we're going to be working very diligently to really raise our digital presence and do a better job. We're expanding curbside; we will be expanding into our own delivery. Raley’s in Northern California is doing some of their own delivery; right now, we rely solely on Instacart. So we'll be working to expand that. I think that you're going to see we've identified a couple of new store sites, but we're also on a massive remodel program right now. We're in the process of finishing plans to remodel two of our stores on the Navajo Nation. Prior to the Raley’s acquisition, we did acquire another store on the Navajo Nation in Shiprock, N.M. That was a former City Market. … So I think you're going to see greater expansion of the formats: Bashas’, Food City and AJ’s. Possibly see on the Raley’s side, future acquisitions. So we're excited for what the future holds for the combined company. And then we're working to, internally … take better care of our people and we're working on a more comprehensive program surrounding education advancement and succession. And I think that that is something to really be proud of.