26. Basha Mercantile Building

There is one final stop we have to make.  To the left of the Stapley building is a parking lot, but the far side of that parking lot—where the concrete slab is—was once the site of the first Basha’s store in the Valley.  It was not a grocery store originally, but a dry goods store owned by Najeeb and Najeeby Basha, a Lebanese couple who set up shop here in 1919.  The building regretfully was demolished many years ago, but a photo of it can be found on the last page of your guidebook.