Bashas' Names Barry Craft Marketing, Merchandising, Procurement VP

Bashas' has named Barry Craft VP of marketing, merchandising and procurement for more than 100 grocery stores across Arizona. He will replace Bashas' veteran Phil Hawkes, who is retiring.

Craft brings to the Chandler, Ariz.-based grocer an accomplished background in merchandising, marketing and category management in the grocery channel. He has held leadership roles at a number of regional retailers in the western United States, and has earned recognition as a developer of new brands and private labels, as well as what is claimed to be the largest consumer baby expo in the world.

“Barry brings almost 40 years of experience in the supermarket industry, with a notable track record of generating sales and margin growth,” said Edward “Trey” Basha, Bashas' president. “He has built and maintained excellent relationships within the organizations he has worked for, as well as with the vendor community, and this business philosophy makes him an ideal fit for our Basha’s leadership team.”

Craft began his grocery career with a Winn Dixie Retail Career Scholarship directly out of high school. He then spent 10 years at Bruno’s Inc., opening a new market for the company in Tennessee, and later serving as district manager over multiple formats in the Birmingham, Ala., area. Next he joined SGSM Acquisition Group as director of retail operations, overseeing the Schwegmann's supermarket chain in New Orleans, and later maintaining the chain’s operational value through divestiture.

For the following 15 years, Craft worked at Texas grocer H-E-B as unit director/team leader, senior business development manager and director of merchandising. After a year as VP of sales for a juvenile products manufacturer, he rejoined the grocery industry with a position at Fiesta Market, where he led the center store category management team prior to taking on a new role as director of pricing/business integration.

Bashas' operates Food City, AJ's Fine Foods, Eddie's Country Store, and both Bashas' and Bashas' Diné supermarkets, totaling more than 100 grocery stores. The company is No. 38 on Progressive Grocer's 2018 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.