Supermarket Drama

On June 23, 2014 an unprecedented drama unfolded in New England as the family owned and feuding DeMoulas cousins staged a coup. Two cousins, both named Arthur brought their long time family feud into the public eye. As Arthur T and his allies were replaced by a Board of Directors and cousin Arthur S. with a controlling 0.5 per cent. Apparently, Arthur T was the "good guy" in the employees eyes, granting profit sharing and real personal treatment of his employees and when he was fired, the employees from 71 stores and the main distribution warehouse went on strike. Many refused to make deliveries to distribute groceries to the stores. The store employees picketed and the most amazing part of all, the customers refused to patronize the stores. For 6 weeks, there were no deliveries and no customers. The independent distributors (like the bread companies, seafood companies were moving no merchandise and so before long, they too stopped delivering. The employees were threatened with losing their jobs and a job fair was set up. Well, almost no one showed up to apply for the jobs. Finally, an agreement was reached and Arthur T purchased the stores from his cousin for 1.5 BILLION dollars! The stores just reopened a few days ago and is in the process of being restocked.

Market Basket had a great business model before all this with no mortgages on any of the stores - every store that was built was built with cash. Will this change the bargains many shopped there for? The chain is known for their fair prices and have been known to put other market chains out of business when they open their stores. This sign was seen on the store that I frequently shop at.

In some ways it angered me that we were held hostage in this drama by billionaires who all wanted their own way but in some ways it was really heartening to see so many behind the one man they all admired and respected.