A MIRACLE AT MARKET BASKET?

"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (John 7:24 New King James Version)

One of the biggest items in the news on local Boston area radio and television stations during the past ten days has been the controversy and labor problems at the Market Basket supermarket chain.  It's a big story because it's so unusual!   Many of the employees are on strike, but there's no Union at Market Basket stores!  The strike is in support of recently fired Market Basket C.E.O. Mr. Arthur T. DeMoulas.  Many Market Basket employees are willing to lose their jobs if necessary to support this man and to try to bring him back.  (A number of so-called business experts, however,  believe the well-meaning efforts of the employees to bring back Arthur T. DeMoulas are actually a lost cause.)  Yes, it's complicated!

When I was a kid growing up in suburban Boston, Massachusetts, I'd never seen a DeMoulas or Market Basket supermarket.  In the 1960s, the "big" supermarkets in the Boston area were A & P, Star Market, First National Stores, and Stop & Shop.  I do remember hearing advertisements on radio and television in which the announcer would proclaim, "Available at DeMoulas and Market Basket stores."  At that time, all of the DeMoulas and Market Basket stores were in the north eastern and north central parts of Massachusetts- I think the chain started around seventy years ago.  I saw my first DeMoulas supermarket one time in the 1980s when I was visiting a shopping area in Leominster.  It was not until the early 1990s that I actually began shopping at a Market Basket store.

My family lived in Framingham, Massachusetts from 1987 to 2011.  At the time we moved into Framingham, the most popular supermarkets were the Big D stores (part of a Worcester chain).  Big D later became "Price Chopper".  We typically shopped at Big D in Framingham and occasionally at Shaw's in Ashland.  There was a big ugly empty former department store building on Route 126 in Ashland (just over the line from Framingham) when we moved into that area.  There were all sorts of rumors that plans were in place to tear down that eyesore and build a beautiful new Market Basket store and adjacent shopping center.  Sometime in the early 1990s, that transformation took place.  I remember that it was so nice to shop at the Ashland Market Basket in those days!  The store was "brand new" and its staff was very friendly.  The prices were amazingly low.  It wasn't long before we became regulars at Market Basket.  Over the years, the Ashland store became more and more and more crowded.  Honestly, that was a bit of a drawback in shopping there.  It tended to be too crowded.  It was hard to find a parking space.  At least half of the shoppers seemed to be foreign born- many Hispanics, many Brazilians, and many Indians and others.  Frankly, I did hear some traditional white American type people say they switched back to Shaw's or Stop & Shop because the Ashland store was not as clean as it was in the beginning (and it wasn't ), it was just too crowded, and they felt uncomfortable with all the people who "did not speak English".  I wished the Ashland store would have been a bit cleaner, but these factors did not deter the Baril family from shopping there at all.  We tended to try to shop at less popular hours such as very early Saturday mornings.  I found the customer service at Market Basket to be good.  One time, I bought a bag of Market Basket shredded cheddar cheese.  When I mixed it into some macaroni elbows I'd cooked on the stovetop, it was "stringy" and did not taste like cheddar at all!  I realized it was not cheddar cheese, but rather mozzarella in a cheddar cheese bag!  I took it back to the store.  They were very nice about it and I was able to get a bag of cheddar with no problem.  I also had a Market Basket check cashing card (and I still do).  What I loved about that is that Market Basket does not treat a check as a debit card transaction in a different form- immediately taking the money out of one's checking account (the way that Stop & Shop does).  It can take three or four days for that check to clear through your bank account!  If money's a problem and you need food (and believe me I've been there on many occasions) being able to write that check that won't clear for three days is just so nice and so convenient!

In early 2011, my wife and I moved to Webster, Massachusetts for a fifteen month period.  There was a very new (big!) Market Basket store located right off Interstate 395 in Oxford.  We switched to shopping regularly at the Oxford store and loved it.  Oxford is an amazingly clean store; and I'd guess it's about a third bigger than the Ashland store.  The "bigness" makes a big difference (pun intended)!  I can't stress enough how friendly the employees were and what a positive shopping experience we had each time we went there.

At the moment, we're back in the immediate Boston area (southwest suburbs) and there is not a Market Basket close by.  However, I do work a secular job in Framingham and I've still regularly stopped into the Ashland store for non-perishable items.  My daughter Rachel lives in Framingham and has been a regular Market Basket customer, as well.

Most consumers, including me, were initially very puzzled by the recent troubles at the Market Basket stores and the labor agitation.  A couple of weeks ago, posters of fired Arthur T. DeMoulas appeared all over the Ashland store with the slogan "Believe!" plastered on them.  One employee had "In A.T.D. We Trust!" sprayed onto his (or her) car.  (As a committed Christian who takes seriously the slogan "In God We Trust" I have to say I thought that was a bit much!)  I will add, I've been following the story on talk radio very carefully over the past week or so and I think I've got a pretty good handle on what's going on:    Mr. Arther T. DeMoulas was a C.E.O. who was continuing in the tradition he'd been taught by his father and grandfather.  He was almost idealistically pro-employee and pro-customer.  Making money was certainly one reason for running his business, but honestly not the biggest reason.  DeMoulas was amazingly a friend and a father-figure to employees.  He gave employees battling cancer or having serious family problems months off with pay!  When somebody was in crisis- he was there for them, literally.   For employees of over three years, they receive profit sharing as a benefit.  The stores are all company owned.  None are leased.  In no cases are mortgages being paid.  Prices are kept rock bottom.  Excellent customer service is stressed.  Now, there are other family members who hold key positions on the company's board who do not necessarily subscribe to the values and philosophy of the company.  It's reported that several would like to sell Market Basket to some big multi-faceted corporation.  They'd "make a killing" and Market Basket stores would continue on, albeit functioning much more like all other supermarkets- with higher prices, less customer-friendly, and less sympathetic to and supportive of employees. 

I've heard a number cynical people say things like, "That's the way of the world," and,  "That's business".   Maybe.  But many of the Market Basket employees are just crazy enough to think they can bring Arthur T. DeMoulas back.  It's being reported in today's news that a big meeting of the Market Basket leadership is in progress today.  Arthur T. DeMoulas has reportedly offered to buy out his rivals on the board and take back control of the business.  It remains to be seen what will happen.

I think of a famous line from a very well known Christmastime movie;  it's from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Remember that classic?   Do you remember the scene of "Cousin Eddie" kidnapping Clark Griswold's boss and bringing him to the family living room?  Clark and family tell the boss how lousy and unfair it was that the he had cut out Christmas bonuses without telling anyone.  Amazingly, the boss says that sometimes policies are made in board rooms which seem good at the time but which fail to take into consideration the contributions of the "little guys" that are the backbone of the business.  He reinstates the bonuses, and in fact, adds twenty percent to the previous year's bonus, which causes Clark Griswold to faint!

That little speech from that twenty-five year old Grade B picture is really what the Market Basket employee protesting is all about.  The recent corporate decisions at Market Business may make perfect sense as far as the people at the top of the company making a lot of money, but they fail to consider the plight of their regular daily employees and consumers.

There are also a number of "Christmas miracle" movies on television each year.  I realize Christmas is still five months away.  Will there be a real "Christmas miracle" type of thing happening for Market Basket?  Are the cynics correct in saying there's no chance of that taking place in the real world?  It remains to be seen.  In any case, I will not set foot inside a Market Basket supermarket again unless and until these issues are made right by the Market Basket leadership!