Bashas' Roots in Chandler, 1936

Arizona’s hometown grocery store had its beginnings serving the cotton workers of Goodyear

The story of Bashas’ in Chandler began when Najeeb and Najeeby Basha, Lebanese immigrants by way of New York City, opened a dry goods store on Boston Street in 1920. They had previously owned stores in Ray and Sonora, Arizona, which had both improbably burned down.

While the dry goods business struggled along, the Bashas noticed that George Y. Wah’s grocery store across the street did more business than them. Soon, they began offering food in their store.

By 1932, the owners of the cotton ranch a couple miles south of downtown Chandler formerly operated by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company were looking for someone to operate a grocery to keep their labor force well supplied. Najeeb and Najeeby’s sons, Ike and Eddie, opened the family’s first grocery store on what is today known as Basha Road in the Ocotillo neighborhood. It was an immediate success, and the business blossomed into a grocery store chain recognized across the state of Arizona.

Bashas’ has always been a family business. The family nature of the business is best demonstrated by the spelling of the company name, Bashas’, indicating that the entire family assists in the operation of the business. Bashas’ is the largest family owned grocery chain in Arizona today.