Rooting for the Home Team....

If you live, or have lived in AZ, chances are you may have shopped at a store called Bashas'. If not, or if you don't know the history of the company, let me fill you in....

A dude named Najeeb Basha immigrated to the US from Lebanon in 1886. He and his wife moved to the area that became Arizona in 1910. They set up shop with a retail business and struggled to get by for some time. Unfortunately, Najeeb died in 1932. But later that year two of their sons, Ike and Eddie, opened a company store for employees of the J.G. Boswell Company. These employees could buy stuff there with company scrip, which is kind of like credit allowed to people on the payroll. This store was the first to carry the name Bashas'.

The Bashas' company now includes stores like AJ's Fine Foods, and Food City. And it is currently run by Eddie Basha Jr, the son of one of the founders. It started in Arizona, and is still mostly only in Arizona. There's only a couple stores outside of the state. And they didn't go any farther than California and New Mexico.

Here's where things head south....

When the "economic downturn" hit, everyone lost money. The company eventually had to close a few stores. Then they had to file for bankruptcy. They've been working their way back, and have even re-opened a few stores they had to close to recuperate. In the process of re-organizing, Albertsons' (a national super-market chain)swooped in and offered to buy them out. The Basha family told them that it isn't going to happen. They are determined to rebuild and return to profitability. Albertsons', being the money grubbing, soul-deprived, and arrogant corporation that they are, decided they could make the sale happen by using the court system. They want to appeal to the creditors by promising to pay them off faster through a buyout. Bashas' wants the creditors to realize the eventual payoff. Bashas' holds a 13% market share in sales for AZ, Albertsons' has been declining and currently only holds about 6.5%.

This doesn't make sense to me. They want to buy a company, plus pay off it's creditors, and then spend money to convert all the stores to their system (which is proving itself as a failure)in an effort to make money? This kind of reminds me of when Daimler(Mercedes) bought into Chrysler. They lost their ass and ran as soon as they could.

Personally, I'd love to see this home-grown, home-raised company regain it's prominence in the state. I'd hate to see it become another victim of the corporate machine. All the charity work and community based projects that this company provides would most likely cease to exist if they are overtaken. And if you don't know about the community service that the Basha family provides, well, they do enough that there is a public school in Chandler, AZ that carries the family name.

If the Judge that is presiding over the case gives the OK to Albertsons' to take control, I'll never set another foot in any of their stores. Even if they keep the name.


I'm done for tonight / today / whatever...

-B-

“I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” -- Winston Churchill