If you’re not from Massachusetts, you can stop reading right here, because I can hardly explain this crazy controversy to you. But if you’re from Massachusetts, you surely have an opinion. So how are you handling it? Are you boycotting?
I’m boycotting myself, though with a certain lack of conviction. Market Basket is my usual store, and I just haven’t really gone to the grocery store much at all in the last two weeks. My wife has been shopping elsewhere.
I just think there’s a bit of a mismatch here between ends and means, and I’m convinced the whole thing is going to end badly, with the chain being sold, and consumers worse off in the end. If that happens, there’s going to be a certain amount of recriminating over the decision to boycott.
At the same time, the whole thing is fascinating, because I’ve never experienced anything like this in all my born days.
This is actually helpful to non-Mass people, because my husband had heard about it from a co-worker who has family up there, and between the two of them and the game of “telephone” the story had got mangled something fierce, to the point that it made no damn sense when he told me about it. I’m glad to actually find out what the heck was going on!
I’m not a huge fan of unions all the time. Mostly they are outdated and cause more problems than they solve. (Of course, this isn’t a union situation, but it’s similar.)
Generally speaking I don’t cross picket lines unless I know what the situation is. I’d rather err on the side of the workers when in doubt.
In this mess, there’s plenty of doubt.
In my opinion you’d have to be sort of clueless to shop there right now. I mean, there’s dozens of people outside basically begging you not to. I get it that some people have to walk to the store and this might be the only option. But that’s rare.
As to who’s in the right? Arthur T or Arthur S? I have to say that Arthur S seems like it’s being an unreasonable jerk. However, Arthur T’s side of the family, led by his dad did blatantly steal 500 million dollars from them. If someone did that to me, I’d be an unreasonable jerk to them too.
I think the whole “We demand the CEO we liked be reinstated!” cause is doomed to failure. It would be doomed even if the majority owner didn’t loathe the former CEO, and Arthur S has made it perfectly clear he’d drive the company off a cliff before he put his cousin back in charge. But it’s a really unusual thing to demand - nothing changed for the employees in the few weeks between Arthur T’s firing and the beginning of the protests. I don’t see the board blinking before the employees on this one. And unless Arthur T’s offer was extremely generous, they probably won’t accept it either.
It sucks for my family though - we’ve got a MB about 5 minutes from our house, and the next 3 closest supermarkets are MBs as well. Both my wife and I have MBs on our commute too. We’ve got to travel about 25 minutes to reach another supermarket. But its nearly pointless to go to MB now - anything perishable is extremely hit or miss as to whether it will be in stock.
I did duck into one this morning, and I have to say the protesters were nothing but polite to me, which was a relief.
Market Basket is my favorite super market. I’ve been traveling and moving between apartments when I’m home and have a full work schedule so grocery shopping hasn’t come up nor will it for a while. I’ve dodged having to think about it.
I think the supermarket is now doomed. Trying to change its current model makes it less competitive imho. They aren’t a higher end grocery store trying to gain market share against larger national chains seems like a losing battle. They are a low cost chain, trying to become something else is going to destroy them anyway.
Combined with the controversy that only serves to hurt the brand I think the board will jump on any offer to get off the sinking ship.
I think the employees are confused as to what they think they can get out of this. When millionaires fight stepping in the way isn’t going to help them. If the employees don’t get their way they get a ceo that now resents them. If they do get their way the company will get sold rather than let a ceo the board doesn’t want run the company leaving all the employees out of work.
I admire the employees’ chutzpah in fighting the fight (I have no fight in this since there’s no MB within shouting distance of me, btw). I don’t think there’s any hell of a chance the current co-CEOs would sell out to Artie T., though. I don’t like saying that, but considering that the size of MB and its profits-before-all-this-happened make it very attractive to any corporate chain either wishing to expand or come into this area…
I don’t see this ending well, but I could be wrong.
The thing is, there’s no negotiation possible. Either Arthur T comes back or he doesn’t. It’s not the typical strike/slowdown where the employees have a slew of demands, and duke it out with management. But nothing was taken away from the employees other than their CEO. Before anything else was taken away - the profit sharing, health plan, etc - they decided things were definitely going to get worse, and started protesting.
Given that oddity, and the whole crazy history of the situation - evil Uncle stealing from his nieces & nephew, lawyers disbarred for plotting to discredit the judge, a fistfight between the principals during a court recess - I wouldn’t be terribly surprised for it to come out that Arthur T was involved in the whole thing, and that at least some of the organizers have been working for him for the last month.
I’ve never been a Market Basket shopper - they have a weird product selection sometimes and I just do not want to deal with the crowds. I’ll gladly pay a little more for my groceries to not be stuck in a 45 minute checkout line. (Probably not all Market Baskets are like that but the one in Union Square soured me forever)
There are, however, so many devotees of the store that it would be sad if they folded or substantially changed because of this infighting.
I don’t really care one way or another. I buy a few things from MB on occasion, but generally go to Shaws because in my area the fish and meat counters are much better there.
I’m also puzzled about how exactly employees get to strike to bring back a CEO. I should’ve thought of that when the CEO of my company was demoted and a nincompoop given his position. Does this work in the IT realm?
Arthur T is no angel, but he does actually care about his people, and he’s not greedy enough to stick it to them. The shame is that that’s a rarity for CEO’s today. It needs to be encouraged, so I’m with them.
MB owns its land, and can keep prices down without mortgage payments to make. The ASD faction, AIUI, wants to sell locations, pocket the cash, and lease them back, making the stores higher cost, and where is that money coming from? Unless they sell to a much larger firm, and spread out their fixed costs that way, it can only come from compensation. They can’t demand premium prices. So, I know who to hope fucks off here.
I’d shop there except the closest location is still not open two years after being built, due to the fight. There are several others too, and the cities are suing MB to shit or get off the pot. But at least they just now got an actual web site, so I hear.
That’s my store, so I totally know what you mean about the crowds. But as for the checkout, that’s one of the things that makes (made?) MB so great. When it’s crowded, they’ll have every register staffed, and I’ve even seen them bring on modular cashier stations, and have a traffic cop to manage the lines. Even at its most crowded, you never have to wait more than 15 minutes in line. Compare that to Stop 'n Shop, where they never seem to have more than three registers staffed.
I have been shopping there for over 50 years, since I was a little girl in the child seat of my mother’s shopping cart. And it’s Demoulas, not Market Basket, to us old timers.
I have lived in other parts of the country for brief chunks of time, and have never found another supermarket I liked as much. I’m trying to support the boycott, but it’s awful to go to the dreadful Stop&Shop where every item averages $2 more than Demoulas.
I agree it’s probably doomed. Everyone’s looking at it as a cash cow now, and wants to be the one to extract all that cash for the greedy side of the family and themselves. I doubt that the board would sell it to Arthur T’s side over a raider with a close bid. Too many grudges.
The dream scenario would be for Arthur T’s side to buy out the cousins, and also have some employee ownership mechanism, so it can be a viable business providing good jobs and good groceries for another 50 years. Instead it will be sucked dry of all cash, and out of business in a few years (if not sooner).
God, my immigranty parents have been Market Basket fanatics since we moved to Lexington in the 90s. And now with the H-Mart next door, forget it, they absolutely refuse to go anywhere else.
My favorite is the angry sniff I get from dad if I say I’m headed out to Trader Joe’s or “That Trader Joe” as it’s called in our hose. “Wasteful American child of mine, why do you go to That Trader Joe when Market Basket is so close?” Occasionally my mom will chime in with a “my client used to go to That Trader Joe but now even he says Market Basket is better.”
He has been the one running the show and it seems to have been run well. I’m a Market Basket shopper ever since one opened near me. Their wide selection of products and low prices make me wonder why anyone would ever go to Shaw’s or Stop & Shop after shopping at Market Basket. Hannaford is pretty good, too, but there isn’t one close to me.
HEY! We have over 30 MB’s in New Hampshire. They all sell beer and wine, which makes them better than the Massachusetts stores, as well as more important to the community. That said, my wife does most of the food shopping in our house and she has switched to Hannaford Brothers for the duration.
Last I knew, the crazy MA laws were that a grocery chain could sell beer and wine in MA, but only at two locations. So, there are probably 2 Market Baskets that sell beer and wine in MA. But we’ve got 30 in NH. So that’s another win for the Granite State.