Golden Sun eXtra Your Local News Source, Mohave County, AZ

It's more than just rumor that Basha's Grocery in Needles is scheduled to close on Easter Sunday. There have been articles in various publications off and online. However, the rumors going around in Needles Towne Centre, the shopping center at Broadway and Interstate 40, would lead a person to hold on to a lot of hope that Basha's will remain open.

A spokesperson with Basha's said the store will close because the company and its Needles landlord, Reliable Properties, were unable to renegotiate a lower lease. But the rumor in Needles is that Reliable Properties tripled the rent and Basha's refused to pay the higher rate.

If Basha's closes, another of the stores, Beall’s Outlet, is also expected to close.

Needles Mayor Jeff Williams said the loss of the store will be devastating. For Needles residents on WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and food stamps, Blythe is the closest store in California they will be able to redeem them. According to a January 2009 report, there were over 1000 Needles residents on food stamps.

On Thursday, the talk around the centre was that there will be an emergency town council meeting on Friday to determine if there are any options available that might entice Bashas’ to remain open. Ideas include possibly returning some of Bashas’ city sales tax to them or lowering their electric rate to help them offset their lease payments, which Williams said were $17,500. Because Needles has a municipal electric company, they might be able to offer Bashas’ an incentive on their electric bill to the city, which currently runs around $25,000 per month.

Needles also recently lost the Buy Rite grocery store due to lack of sales. Bashas’ has been in the same location for more than 20 years. Mayor Williams said the city will do everything it can to keep from losing Bashas’ and said he has spoken with representatives from Reliable Properties.

The mayor added that it’s a landlord issue. He said it’s not Bashas’. Bashas’ wants to stay. Basha's spokesperson said they have been here for 20 years and this was not the decision they wanted to make.

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Backflip BlinkBits Blinklist blogmarks del.icio.us digg Furl Raw Sugar reddit Shadows Simpy Spurl Technorati Yahoo My Web More... | WHAT IS THIS?