If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
That’s my position on the latest family struggles involving Market Basket.
I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong in this new saga in the ongoing Demoulas family feud. My only wish is that Market Basket remain what it is today – the best, most affordable supermarket chain anywhere.
No one wants to see one of the few remaining advantages of living in Massachusetts turned into yet another billion-dollar-takeover disaster, embittered heirs selling out to a bunch of cut throat venture-capital vultures who will quickly destroy all that Market Basket represents.
“More for Your Dollar.”
Let’s keep it that way, okay?
Having said that, if it comes down to Arthur T. or his three sisters, I guess you know which side I’m on.
Arthur T. works like a dog. Ditto, his kids. They’re not “helpless like a rich man’s child,” as Bob Dylan would say.
When the first Market Basket war started in 2014, I didn’t much care. There were no Market Baskets near where I lived. People were always raving about the prices, but the stores were too far away to check out. But then the Waltham store opened, and I saw the light.
The night it opened, I was shopping there, goggle-eyed at the low prices. Arthur T. showed up, and was quickly surrounded by his employees, all of whom seemed to love him.
A few years later, they opened the package store next door, on a Saturday morning, when I do my shopping. You know who was hanging out, maybe even running the cash register? Arthur’s son, TA.
Now Arthur and TA are both sidelined, with pay, as is daughter Madeline, who I once met at the Fall River store. On a Saturday. Begin to notice a pattern here? These Demoulases work nights, and weekends. That’s how you keep a business going, from one generation to the next.
You can’t fake good kids. And you really can’t fake hard-working kids.
Down in Florida, there’s a good supermarket chain called Publix. Whenever snowbirds from New England talk supermarkets while in Florida, the conversation always goes this way:
“Publix? A little pricey, but not bad. But it’s no Market Basket!”
Someone could get elected governor of Maine next year just by saying he was going to bring in more Market Baskets than the three or four they’ve already got, and that they were going to start bringing them in north of Topsham.
As unpopular as Maine Gov. Janet Mills is, she’s a rock star compared to Hannaford’s, the big chain up there. And don’t get me started on Whole Paychecks, I mean Whole Foods.
Is there any nostalgia whatsoever for any of these smaller chains? Like, for instance, the place I used to shop in Somerville, Johnnie’s Foodmaster.
“You know, I really miss Johnnie’s Foodmaster,” said no one, ever.
Apparently Arthur T.’s three sisters, who control 60% of the stock to his 28%, are concerned about his plans for the future. He’s 70, and they worry that he’s going to make sure one of his own kids succeeds him as CEO.
And that would be a problem, how?
Is anything wrong with the current MB business model? According to the news accounts, Arthur T. and his sisters bought out the other side of the family in 2014. It only took them a decade to pay off the $1.6 billion loan. That’s some good cash flow right there.
The number of stores has doubled, and revenue is now $7 billion a year. To repeat, what exactly is the problem here? The sisters have “representatives” on the board, which means they’re not as hands-on as Arthur T. and his kids.
Like all Market Basket shoppers, I feel I have a stake in this fight. Namely, low prices.
Every summer, when I go to the Cape, I always do my big shop at the MB at the Sagamore Bridge. One stop, save a couple hundred bucks. And it opens around 6:30 – I know the official hours begin at 7 a.m., but if you’re a regular you know how early you can get in.
I got back from Florida and as usual headed straight to Market Basket #79. Everybody’s got their own favorite products. I love the striped shortbread MB cookies.
And the turkey pastrami – still only $5.99 a pound. Please don’t lecture me that it’s not healthy – the doctor told me I’m not getting enough sodium nitrate.
How about my favorite Cuban coffee – Café Bustelo? The 36-ounce container at Publix is $21.99. In Waltham, I paid $16.99. It adds up, fast.
Another thing about Market Basket is that you can often buy local. I can support my own radio-show advertisers.
Last Saturday, I picked up a quart of Captain Parker’s Clam Chowder from West Yarmouth. Then I grabbed a frozen Cape Cod Café pepperoni bar pizza from Brockton.
Try buying any local products at, say, Aldi’s. And MB doesn’t charge extra for the bags either. They have shopping carts. You don’t have to check yourself out.
Like everybody else who shops there, I’m just hoping nothing bad happens to Market Basket. More for Your Dollar – and they’re not kidding. At least right now.
Please, all members of the Demoulas family, I’m begging you.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.