Bashas’ holds grand opening for Navajo Nation grocery store

PHOENIX – Valley-based grocery chain Bashas’ opened its first newly built store in a decade this week in a Navajo Nation community in eastern Arizona.

The Bashas’ Diné Market in Sanders, a town off Interstate 40, about 20 miles from the New Mexico border, held a grand opening ceremony Wednesday.

Representatives of the Navajo Nation, including President Jonathan Nez, and the Basha family appeared at the daylong celebration.

Diné Market is the company’s brand for grocery stores on Arizona’s Native American reservations. They carry products that serve the needs of Navajo customers and have signage using the native language.

The new 16,000-square-foot store is the family-owned chain’s eighth Diné Market on the Navajo Nation and 11th in the state, according to a company press release.

It’s the first ground-up build for a Bashas’ store since 2009, the release said.

Bashas’ opened its first Navajo Nation market in 1982.

The release said at least 95 percent of Diné Market employees are Native American, and each location gives back a percentage of its profits to the Navajo Nation to support education, nutrition, art, health and wellness.

Bashas’ operates more than 100 stores in Arizona, and one in New Mexico, under the Bashas’, Diné Market, AJ’s Fine Foods and Food City names.

Follow @KTAR923