MA/NH RefuPeas: Market Basket

Can't wait to get back myself, but i'm waiting probably until next week hoping they've got a chance to stock their shelves!

I am PSYCHED. This strike has been killing my budget. That being said, there isn't a force in the universe to get me to Market Basket this weekend. It will be CRAZY. I'll wait until next week when the hoopla dies down.

I'm excited as well. I'm going to wait a little while to go back so the mad rush will hopefully die down..but then again, the Market Basket I go to is always super busy unless I go early in the morning or just before closing.

We haven't stepped foot in a MB since the whole thing started. I didn't realize how much I loved that place until I refused to go. There isn't one super close (30+ mins away) but my dh passes one every night on his way home from work. I told him to stop and buy SOMETHING, ANYTHING to show support. So he stopped and bought cookies. LOL He said EVERYONE was smiling and happy and there were huge signs and banners thanking customers for their patience. He talked to a few of the workers about when everything would be stocked back up and they told him hopefully by Sunday.

Not at all. It's a Massachusetts based grocery store chain with 71 stores in MA and NH and one in Maine. They were in the news all summer because the board of directors fired the beloved CEO.  The workers walked off the job (not union) and refused to work for the new CEOs.  The store associates and managers asked customers to boycott the stores.  Their business dropped by about 96%.  This week they finally accepted an offer by the previous CEO to buy out the 50.5% of the company he and his siblings didn't already own.  If you google Market Basket I'm sure there are tons of news stories you could read that would explain the situation better. 

It was so nice to see ours open and the parking lot full today. They said they'll be fully stocked within 3 days!!!! How the employees are managing to do that is beyond me. Restocking 71 empty stores within a week? Now that's an incredible job.

I'm so glad they came to a settlement. I was so angry at the family for endangering the livelihoods of the 25,000 employees when they talked about possibly closing all the stores.

Yes, a regular grocery store but with lower prices than most around here.

My first real job, with a W-2 and all, was as a cashier at Market Basket. I started in high school. I was able to request my own schedule, taking time off before a test, for example, or for a school function. I got a Christmas bonus and spring bonus equal to about a week's pay. I went to college and they kept me on the payroll, sending my Christmas bonus and allowing me to work over Christmas break. For awhile, I worked at MB and a bank while finishing school, and I cashed the store manager's checks-bonuses of 8-10k were average. And the most amazing thing to me was that ANY employee could work his or her way up to management. I worked with a kid who started out bagging groceries and ended up a front end manager. He has a high school diploma and his MB job allows him to support a stay-at-home wife and three kids. My sister was the courtesy booth manager and actually took a pay cut when she fnished college and took a teaching job. Every employee was entitled to profit sharing. What other corporation values its employees and offers them that kind of potential? And under Artie T, the company was run DEBT FREE. They kept prices competitive and didn't sacrifice quality. It's a model of what business could be without corporate greed. The shareholders made over half a BILLION dollars and that wasn't enough for them. They wanted to take more away from the employees and customers to increase already impressive profits. And they were willing to ruin a company to do it. I am so inspired at the way this worked out and I cannot wait to go shopping this weekend. I hope the debt incurred now in the 1.5 bllion dollar buyout does not change the business model.

Stopped into one of our two stores today, and there were smiles EVERYWHERE! The shelves are still pretty empty of most perishables, but I think some of that was because the crowds were back! Shoppers were picking up items as quickly as they were being put out. There were large Thank You signs to the customers for the amazing support the last 6 weeks. Such a positive feeling to see so many employees with a smile on their faces as they worked so hard to get their store back in shape.

I'm actually going to brave the crowds and go grocery shopping this weekend there! LOL

I am online friends with someone who has been filling me in and sending me news articles about MB. Very interesting, just loved that the community rallied together and did not shop there.