Bashas/AJs/Food City

[retailfanmitchell019]

One thing I found interesting in the Bashas Stores is their price structure. I think their everyday pricing is lower than Safeway/Albertsons/Frys. Their sale prices aren't necessarily as many or as good but on an everyday basis their prices are very fair/reasonable. Yet hardly anyone seems to be shopping these stores Bashas. They feel dead, look dead, and just have a dead vibe. The employees seem bored and sort of unenthusiastic, but somewhat friendly. Food City seems to be viable but I cannot believe the condition of some of those stores... and their service is terrible. Food City must have good hot food because there was a line up at every location I went to that had hot food. AJs seems to run a first class operation but their center store business looks to be almost nothing at this point, they need to reinvent themself to make produce/meat/center store/seafood more productive. It looks like most of their sales are prepared food/bakery/drinks.

There seems to be a Bashas private label again, on some items, the ones with a white background package and red background logo are Raleys brand items redesigned with the Bashas logo. Then other items have Food Club, others have some weird "Bashas A to Z" label, and some seem to be generic packer labels.

I’m surprised Bashas finally has lower pricing than Fry’s/Safeway/Albertsons. They’ve tended to have higher prices than those chains from what I’ve heard on this forum.

I was reading one of your posts on Raley’s acquisition of Bashas, you went to AZ over 20 years ago and thought Bashas was a lousy operation around Phoenix compared to the Big Three chains.
I don’t know if you’ve been to Bashas in the Tucson area yet, but the Bashas stores out there are all newer, upscale stores in the affluent suburban areas of Tucson. Those stores are operationally more like a Pavilions or Mariano’s with high quality fresh departments. I had extended family living in Catalina Foothills (a suburb of Tucson) until 2013. My grandparents shopped at Bashas in Catalina Foothills (although my uncle and aunt, who also lived out there, went to Albertsons or Safeway).

I’m glad Bashas finally is growing their own store brand. Bashas used the Hy-Top label from Federated until 2002, when they switched to Topco brands (Food Club, etc).
Found pics of what “Bashas A To Z” looks like: https://thegroagency.com/work/bashas-a-to-z-pantry/
It’s a rebadge of the Crav’n brand (Topco brand for snack and frozen foods).
I know Bashas had their own brand of soda at one time (in 2012 I think).
Stater Bros. uses the Food Club label on a few random items like cereal.

[Retailuser]

The only one that I like it AJ'S as they are good. I went into a Bashas in Bagdad AZ (far western Yavaipi county) and it was disgusting like it was never visited from environmental health.

[SamSpade]

Various complaints about all of the monikers.

My friend that lives there has complained about milk being out of stock (at Bashas), but remains a fan of Phoenix Safeway stores.

[ClownLoach]

I'm way overdue for an Arizona trip. Have they put any capital into the AJ's stores? They were nice stores with beautiful looking foods, but terribly dated last time I was there. Stores looked like something out of the 80's and 90's with dusty fake grapevines everywhere, oak woodwork, ugly tile floors, I'm sure it was "nice" and "upscale" when they were built but it looks like that was 30+ years ago and now they're just stale and neglected. Lighting was always terrible as well; there is a fine line between the elegance of using grids and such to diffuse the light in an effort to soften it up versus what they did which was make the stores into dark caves by mostly leaving no light on ceilings and just using in-rack lights.

AJ's reminds me of the oddball San Diego/IE chain Baron's Market in their appearance and decor, except for Baron's weird no full service anything perimeter. But Baron's dated appearance can be overlooked by the fact that they have working lighting so you can see around the store without using a flashlight; AJ's was way too dark last time I visited and I went into multiple stores that were consistently caves inside.

The only capital that appears recent is to the Food City Stores and in my opinion the remodels look terrible. I cannot stand the wall decor being used.

AJs is not touched but they look maintained (not run down)... those tile floors are in perfect condition... I'll take these dated looking but very nicely finished AJs interiors over that new Gelson's interior you posted in the other thread any day.

This is an interesting tie to Baron's. I think if you took Baron's produce/meat/liquor/center store and mixed it with AJ's bakery/deli/prepared foods/service/some of center store you could have a real winner of a store.

I haven't seen a Barons that has any in house meat or seafood. What little bit they offer is the vacuum sealed stuff and I don't remember the vendor name. I've been to about half a dozen stores and they're all the same. Produce is very fairly priced but not a lot of depth, probably because of the low volume of the stores which necessitates smaller displays. They have a great beer and wine dept for sure, but liquor irritates me with their wild markups on the hard to find allocated stuff. Yes it's nice to see the unicorn bottles in real life, but charging $899 for a bottle that can be hunted down a couple times per year at Costco for $59.99 leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a suspicious practice I would expect from a trashy corner liquor store not a chain trying to portray itself as a upscale and reputable market. On that note, I have seen other suspicious items such as large trays of scalloped potato side dishes in the deli "pre-made meals" which are almost assuredly the tray of Resers from Costco stripped of the outer packaging and a deli label printed with the same ingredients at double the price. I actually wonder how much in each store is acquired at Costco... It's what makes me just a tad suspicious of their operation. It would not be difficult to send someone with a van and shopping list to Costco daily for a lot of what they sell as wacky as that may sound. These are not high volume stores and I doubt they break $10K a day in sales. Aside from that, a store that was a Barons/AJs fusion with less suspect sourcing would be a slam dunk success in my eyes. They could probably fit it into most Barons which tend to use short gondolas and high ceilings, just switch to full height fixtures everywhere to free up perimeter space to add in the deli and Bakery and meat counters.

That new Gelsons is a huge step back for the chain, like I said it looks like someone set up gondolas in the parking garage while their very nice new mid-century modern decor package was replaced with scraps from closed Whole Foods stores or something that doesn't match at all from department to department. The best looking Gelsons I've ever seen is 2nd and PCH in Long Beach where they licensed some of the most beautiful food artwork I've seen such as high res mural prints of exotic tomatoes framed on the wall in produce and such. I think it is a one-of-a-kind decor package and I would hope that they don't prioritize remodeling it since the store is pretty new anyway. I noticed that they've pivoted away from the broad camera shots on social media stories already and are now showing more shots of the outside, it looks like one of those mixed use redevelopment sites with parking underneath and apartments upstairs but no surface level lot. That unfinished building interior design trend needs to stop immediately, it is not a "loft" and should not look like one. If anyone wants to see the perfect solution go visit that new Stater Bros where all the ugly stuff is hidden under a narrow perimeter of some ceiling tiles and then the rest of the store opens up with what must be at least a 30 foot open, dramatic ceiling like an airplane hangar.

[storewanderer]

I’m surprised Bashas finally has lower pricing than Fry’s/Safeway/Albertsons. They’ve tended to have higher prices than those chains from what I’ve heard on this forum.

I was reading one of your posts on Raley’s acquisition of Bashas, you went to AZ over 20 years ago and thought Bashas was a lousy operation around Phoenix compared to the Big Three chains.
I don’t know if you’ve been to Bashas in the Tucson area yet, but the Bashas stores out there are all newer, upscale stores in the affluent suburban areas of Tucson. Those stores are operationally more like a Pavilions or Mariano’s with high quality fresh departments. I had extended family living in Catalina Foothills (a suburb of Tucson) until 2013. My grandparents shopped at Bashas in Catalina Foothills (although my uncle and aunt, who also lived out there, went to Albertsons or Safeway).

I’m glad Bashas finally is growing their own store brand. Bashas used the Hy-Top label from Federated until 2002, when they switched to Topco brands (Food Club, etc).
Found pics of what “Bashas A To Z” looks like: https://thegroagency.com/work/bashas-a-to-z-pantry/
It’s a rebadge of the Crav’n brand (Topco brand for snack and frozen foods).
I know Bashas had their own brand of soda at one time (in 2012 I think).
Stater Bros. uses the Food Club label on a few random items like cereal.

I noticed after the bankruptcy that the pricing at Bashas (that banner - which is also quite similar to the pricing at Food City except for Food City has lower priced meat/produce/bakery/deli due to having mostly different stuff) seemed to come way down. Prices have shot up at Safeway/Albertsons but if you play their promotion game you will do very well, and up somewhat at Frys/Wal Mart so maybe Bashas is just treading water and not increasing everyday prices as fast as these other operators. AJ's pricing is still very high as it always has been but it is also selling different stuff.

I haven't been to their stores in Tucson.

A to Z is also on things like bagged rice/beans and various other random center store items. Some sizes/varieties of those items are in Food City brand, or Food Club brand. Bashas had at least some of its own private label after it got rid of Hy Top, as I recall, but switched to Food Club at some point before the bankruptcy. Scolaris here in NV followed a similar path to Bashas in that they too had Hy Top then switched to Food Club around the same time then when they closed most of their warehouse (they kept part of it for perishables and palletized loads of certain dry grocery) they moved most of dry grocery buying to C&S and started to slot Best Yet.

Bashas needs to liven up the stores. They really had a dead sad vibe at the Bashas banner. The remodels they did some years ago are quite cheap, flooring is coming up in some stores, taped together (also see this in unremodeled Lifestyle Safeways), and dull in need of shine/polish. Food City even if small run down and outdated stores with some ugly decor every store feels bright and alive. AJs feels elegant and classy even if outdated (doesn't bother me at all how the stores look).

[storewanderer]

I have a few close friends in Phoenix and they stay away from all of Basha's companies.

Various complaints about all of the monikers.

It is too bad but I completely understand that. What I do not understand is why Raleys has not done anything to try to build better consumer confidence in these brands. Raleys is extremely image conscious historically (maybe lately they have shifted more to the "take what we give you and like it" mentality based on their attitude with Raleys ONE). Raleys ONE and their handling of the Reno unit has really hurt my impression of Raleys.

Raleys needs to go back and listen to their old Frank McMinn radio ads that talked up food safety, food quality, customer service, and numerous other topics from the 90's and 00's and start some similar marketing surrounding the Bashas banner specifically. I think that kind of advertising would resonate extremely well with the snowbirds.

The Food City Stores near the airport are the biggest trip. No recent remodels (not a bad thing with how awful that new interior is even if they won awards), no self checkout...
4430 East McDowell - felt unsafe there. This store I am not even sure if it is an anchor space or just a grocery store carved into multiple tenant spaces. Shopping center especially the CVS completely overrun by homeless, and argument occurring between CVS security and a large group of homeless. Food City was more tame but the CVS situation put me on high alert the entire time in that parking lot.

3205 East McDowell (and downtown Casa Grande) barely qualify as stores they are so small and outdated and probably do almost no volume.

2124 East McDowell seems to be a giant building that is mostly unused, no remodel, no self checkout but fairly busy.

The large unit at 1940 West Indian School may have been the first to get the new interior, and is busier and seems to be a former Albertsons (glass thing above checkouts gives it away) and Price Rite.

[Romr123]

Will be heading out to Sedona for Christmas. Believe my aunt/uncle who live there prefer Bashas'--was last there 7-8 years ago and remember nothing but that the bakery was good and had paczkis around the holiday.

[SamSpade]

had paczkis around the holiday.

YESSSSSSS

[arizonaguy]

One thing I found interesting in the Bashas Stores is their price structure. I think their everyday pricing is lower than Safeway/Albertsons/Frys. Their sale prices aren't necessarily as many or as good but on an everyday basis their prices are very fair/reasonable. Yet hardly anyone seems to be shopping these stores Bashas. They feel dead, look dead, and just have a dead vibe. The employees seem bored and sort of unenthusiastic, but somewhat friendly. Food City seems to be viable but I cannot believe the condition of some of those stores... and their service is terrible. Food City must have good hot food because there was a line up at every location I went to that had hot food. AJs seems to run a first class operation but their center store business looks to be almost nothing at this point, they need to reinvent themself to make produce/meat/center store/seafood more productive. It looks like most of their sales are prepared food/bakery/drinks.

There seems to be a Bashas private label again, on some items, the ones with a white background package and red background logo are Raleys brand items redesigned with the Bashas logo. Then other items have Food Club, others have some weird "Bashas A to Z" label, and some seem to be generic packer labels.

I’m surprised Bashas finally has lower pricing than Fry’s/Safeway/Albertsons. They’ve tended to have higher prices than those chains from what I’ve heard on this forum.

I was reading one of your posts on Raley’s acquisition of Bashas, you went to AZ over 20 years ago and thought Bashas was a lousy operation around Phoenix compared to the Big Three chains.
I don’t know if you’ve been to Bashas in the Tucson area yet, but the Bashas stores out there are all newer, upscale stores in the affluent suburban areas of Tucson. Those stores are operationally more like a Pavilions or Mariano’s with high quality fresh departments. I had extended family living in Catalina Foothills (a suburb of Tucson) until 2013. My grandparents shopped at Bashas in Catalina Foothills (although my uncle and aunt, who also lived out there, went to Albertsons or Safeway).

I’m glad Bashas finally is growing their own store brand. Bashas used the Hy-Top label from Federated until 2002, when they switched to Topco brands (Food Club, etc).
Found pics of what “Bashas A To Z” looks like: https://thegroagency.com/work/bashas-a-to-z-pantry/
It’s a rebadge of the Crav’n brand (Topco brand for snack and frozen foods).
I know Bashas had their own brand of soda at one time (in 2012 I think).
Stater Bros. uses the Food Club label on a few random items like cereal.

Bashas' in metro Phoenix is a lousy operation. They've probably closed as many stores (if not more) in metro Phoenix area as remain open. Bashas' in metro Phoenix went on a big expansion craze in the mid 1990s - early 2000s where they built new build stores virtually everywhere and also bought some of the more valuable assets of ABCO Desert Markets when Fleming collapsed. The problem with this is that the expansion was occurring at the same time that Safeway was expanding (and upgrading) its store fleet, Smith's / Fry's / Smitty's / Fred Meyer Marketplace were merging together under Kroger, Albertsons was in expansion mode and Walmart was putting supercenters on any plot large enough to hold one. Phoenix in the early 2000s was severely overstored and Bashas' was the main loser as they just didn't have the pricing or purchasing power to compete with the larger national / regional chains.

The Bashas' in Tucson are what I consider "hybrid" stores as they are somewhat in between a normal Bashas' and an AJ's. They aren't the same lousy store that exists in Metro Phoenix.

If Raley's was smart they'd keep AJ's, Food City and the non Maricopa County (metro Phoenix) Bashas' stores and close the remaining metro Phoenix stores that they wouldn't be able to sell to someone (like C&S if the Albertsons / Safeway merger happened). If they don't want to sell the stores they should convert them to the Raley's name and format. The other 2 big banners in Phoenix (Fry's and Safeway) originated as Northern California banners so it's not a completely foreign concept to have a Northern California chain in Phoenix (Phoenix also had Lucky for a while).

What seemed to happen to the entire Bashas' operation is that after the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2010 (due to it's massive overexpansion) they simply froze everything in time for a while. They did try a new format in one store in 2012 and it actually was a very nice store:

https://progressivegrocer.com/bashas-op ... tore-tempe

However, they shelved that and went into those cheap remodels that you mentioned.

I don't know what they intend to do with AJ's. It's pretty much the same as it's been since the mid 2000s (except with fewer stores). Center store there has always been a bit of a joke and I think that their stores are too large. They really would be better suited to a 20,000 square foot store with bakery / deli / prepared foods and a highly curated center store mix.

[storewanderer]

Bashas' in metro Phoenix is a lousy operation. They've probably closed as many stores (if not more) in metro Phoenix area as remain open. Bashas' in metro Phoenix went on a big expansion craze in the mid 1990s - early 2000s where they built new build stores virtually everywhere and also bought some of the more valuable assets of ABCO Desert Markets when Fleming collapsed. The problem with this is that the expansion was occurring at the same time that Safeway was expanding (and upgrading) its store fleet, Smith's / Fry's / Smitty's / Fred Meyer Marketplace were merging together under Kroger, Albertsons was in expansion mode and Walmart was putting supercenters on any plot large enough to hold one. Phoenix in the early 2000s was severely overstored and Bashas' was the main loser as they just didn't have the pricing or purchasing power to compete with the larger national / regional chains.

The Bashas' in Tucson are what I consider "hybrid" stores as they are somewhat in between a normal Bashas' and an AJ's. They aren't the same lousy store that exists in Metro Phoenix.

If Raley's was smart they'd keep AJ's, Food City and the non Maricopa County (metro Phoenix) Bashas' stores and close the remaining metro Phoenix stores that they wouldn't be able to sell to someone (like C&S if the Albertsons / Safeway merger happened). If they don't want to sell the stores they should convert them to the Raley's name and format. The other 2 big banners in Phoenix (Fry's and Safeway) originated as Northern California banners so it's not a completely foreign concept to have a Northern California chain in Phoenix (Phoenix also had Lucky for a while).

What seemed to happen to the entire Bashas' operation is that after the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2010 (due to it's massive overexpansion) they simply froze everything in time for a while. They did try a new format in one store in 2012 and it actually was a very nice store:

https://progressivegrocer.com/bashas-op ... tore-tempe

However, they shelved that and went into those cheap remodels that you mentioned.

I don't know what they intend to do with AJ's. It's pretty much the same as it's been since the mid 2000s (except with fewer stores). Center store there has always been a bit of a joke and I think that their stores are too large. They really would be better suited to a 20,000 square foot store with bakery / deli / prepared foods and a highly curated center store mix.

I think very interesting things could be done to enhance the productivity of AJ's by curating center store and trying a different meat/produce strategy that emphasizes volume better. Trying to be premium everything and top of the market pricing on everything in meat/produce is fine but when you have a lot of foot traffic in your store and almost nobody is buying from your meat/produce/center store categories there is a problem and this has been going on at AJ's since before Bashas went bankrupt.

One thing I wonder is could these Bashas stores even execute the Raleys format or would they just turn into "sad Raleys" format stores similar to how they are "sad Bashas" Stores. Raleys has a number of sad low volume stores notably a few of the former Scolaris and a couple others around Reno/Sparks that go up against Smiths (they seem to be doing a little better the past year or two but the stores are still pretty sad). Some of the symptoms I saw in these Bashas Stores were the same as I see in the sad Raleys Stores- perimeter departments very lightly assorted/closed by 7 PM/no counter staffing (ring bell for service, forget about 50% of potential sales without a person out at those counters to greet/engage the customer), very light amount of meat/produce out that could be fresher and tricks like very small packages/thin cuts to make the case look full.

Food City they definitely need to leave as is that seems to be the most productive format.