https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2021/10/01/bashas-sell-all-its-stores-california-based-grocer/5953103 (Tucson: rent, neighborhood)

[Adamson865]

Originally Posted by wit-nit

Basha's is the highest priced grocery chain in AZ and competition beat them to death, especially after Eddie Basha died several years ago and the chain rapidly declined.

Raley's won't change that because when I lived in Sacramento, it was one of the highest priced chains there too.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by wit-nit

Basha's is the highest priced grocery chain in AZ and competition beat them to death, especially after Eddie Basha died several years ago and the chain rapidly declined.

Safeway is pretty expensive too. Both the Safeway and Bashes in Surprise were always dead. So if I wanted to get in and out fast, those were my go-to stores.

I will say this, grocery stores in the PHX metro have BRUTAL competition! Huge stores are littered in nearly every town. I don't know how they all can make it.

Speaking of expensive groceries. I get sticker shocked when I head back to MN for the summer. Basically, there is Cub Foods. And their parent company is a distributor to just about every chain in MN including Target. Walmart and Hy-Vee have moved into town. I almost exclusively shop at Costco, Aldi's, and Sam Club and dodge the other stores whenever possible.

Fresh produce is 50% more with several skews. And Cub likes to sell meats by the package versus by the pound.

Imagine a state without a Safeway, Albertson, Winco, Fry's, Food City, Bashes. Food City, or Sprouts. With a grand total of 3 Whole Foods serving 3.6M people. In PHX metro, you have 22 Sprouts or Whole Foods locations (3 total in the Twin Cities Metro). As I said, the grocery competition here in AZ is brutal.

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by grmi66

Used to have a marketing gig where I'd go into various grocery stores to put up small displays or to check stock on end caps. Every single Basha's store I went into in the Phoenix area was a ghost town every single time I entered one. If there were any customers, they were all well into retirement. This was 4-5 years ago and I told my boss there is no way Basha's survives, their customers will literally die off and there will be no one to replace them.

Whenever I entered a store, the layout, the store graphics and check stands look like they hadn't been updated in 30+ years. Not shocked at this development.

I moved here 3 years ago, and this was my assessment: Most of the Krogers are 21st century stores (not that they don't have their faults), Safeways/Albertsons back to the 1980s/1990s. Bashas back to the 1960s/1970s. That not to say that any one of the brands is all good or all bad, but Bashas is certainly dated.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by wit-nit

Basha's is the highest priced grocery chain in AZ and competition beat them to death, especially after Eddie Basha died several years ago and the chain rapidly declined.

This is true for most of the packaged goods that should be available everywhere (detergent, tp, etc...) and Bashas' doesn't have the space to compete in that area with the big footprint stores.


But using Basha's Personal Thank You for perishables puts them in the same ballpark price wise.


Their model definitely favors the regular customer who plans a list and spends 10 minutes checking boxes on their website every week, while absolutely gouging the pop in shopper.

[Hschlick84]

I've never stepped foot into a Basha's grocery store, heard there used to be one in Prescott Valley but closed due to lack of traffic and not having an updated interior. The same thing can be said to Safeway, except we still have on here. It's in dire need of renovation and expansion. Narrow aisles, outdated façade, small shelves, 80s interior and higher prices to Walmart & Fry's.

[DetroitN8V]

Hopefully they improve them. They’re the most expensive and I’m always guaranteed to not find at least one thing I need. AJ’s stores are nice but they seem even more expensive than Whole Foods but with a worse variety. Something had to give. I’m sort of surprised the company was attractive enough for an acquisition.

[FlurryCat]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Imagine a state without a Safeway, Albertson, Winco, Fry's, Food City, Bashes. Food City, or Sprouts. With a grand total of 3 Whole Foods serving 3.6M people. In PHX metro, you have 22 Sprouts or Whole Foods locations (3 total in the Twin Cities Metro). As I said, the grocery competition here in AZ is brutal.

That was actually a factor in our relocation here. By no means top of the list, but definitely a factor. In the Boston close-in suburbs we basically just had Stop & Shop, owned by a European conglomerate, and it was expensive. Very old, run down buildings. There was an independent local chain, Market Basket, that was much cheaper and had nicer stores, but they were still growing, with few locations, and it was a half-hour drive to get to one. And when you did it was like trying to park at the mall at Christmas.

Costco was always crowded and not at all convenient for everyday in-and-out bread, milk and eggs shopping. The local Walmart or Target stores weren't "Supercenters" and didn't have groceries (and at 45 minutes away, weren't "local" anyhow). Lots of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, but they weren't really supermarkets - more like small, pricey specialty markets.

And it's not just the prices, it's the whole experience. Who wants to shop in a dimly-lit, dingy, cramped, narrow-aisle store with dented, broken-wheeled carts and a tiny bumper-car parking lot? Now I have bright, clean, modern Fry's, Sprouts, WinCo, 2 Safeways, Target and Walmart all closer than the old Stop & Shop I used to go to. And I go to all of them, depending on what I need and what other errands I'm running that particular day.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by FlurryCat

That was actually a factor in our relocation here. By no means top of the list, but definitely a factor. In the Boston close-in suburbs we basically just had Stop & Shop, owned by a European conglomerate, and it was expensive. Very old, run down buildings. There was an independent local chain, Market Basket, that was much cheaper and had nicer stores, but they were still growing, with few locations, and it was a half-hour drive to get to one. And when you did it was like trying to park at the mall at Christmas.

Costco was always crowded and not at all convenient for everyday in-and-out bread, milk and eggs shopping. The local Walmart or Target stores weren't "Supercenters" and didn't have groceries (and at 45 minutes away, weren't "local" anyhow). Lots of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, but they weren't really supermarkets - more like small, pricey specialty markets.

And it's not just the prices, it's the whole experience. Who wants to shop in a dimly-lit, dingy, cramped, narrow-aisle store with dented, broken-wheeled carts and a tiny bumper-car parking lot? Now I have bright, clean, modern Fry's, Sprouts, WinCo, 2 Safeways, Target and Walmart all closer than the old Stop & Shop I used to go to. And I go to all of them, depending on what I need and what other errands I'm running that particular day.

Haha, in my mind I hear Bill Burr saying "DeMooooooulahs," for some reason.
It could be worse, you could have had only Stop & Shop and Johnnie's Foodmaster to choose from!

[FlurryCat]

Johnnie's folded and Whole Foods moved into their ratty old buildings without much of a facelift. DeMoulas is Market Basket. Best chain in the area, but not enough of them around to be convenient unless you happen to live right near one. It was Stop & Shop or top off the tank and check the spare for the expedition to get a head of lettuce.

[asufan]

The things I liked about Basha's:. Covered parking, WIDE spaces (an extra couple feet at least) and the smaller stores. If I have to pop in for a few things, Basha's is preferable to a super mega grocery experience.