DeMoulas Market Basket

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DeMoulas Market Basket, Inc
Type Privately held company
Industry Grocery
Founded Lowell, Massachusetts, United States (1917 (1917))
Founder(s)
  • Athanasios Demoulas
  • Efrosini Demoulas
Headquarters Tewksbury, Massachusetts, United States
Number of locations 71
Area served New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine
Key people
Products
  • Bakery (Not Available At All Stores)
  • Dairy
  • Deli
  • Frozen Foods
  • Grocery
  • Meat
  • Health & Beauty Aids
  • Produce
  • Seafood
  • Snacks
  • Beer & Wine (NH stores only)
  • Market's Kitchen (Not Available At All Stores)
  • Sub Shops (Not Available At All Stores)
  • Sushi Bar (Not Available At All Stores)
Revenue US$3,800,000,000 (2009)
Employees 18,000 (2011)
Parent DeMoulas Supermarkets, Inc

DeMoulas Market Basket, more commonly known as Market Basket, is a growing chain of 69 supermarkets in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.[1] Its footprint spans from central New Hampshire to southeastern Massachusetts with headquarters in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Market Basket's most recent expansion brought it to Cape Cod in 2012.[2] Market Basket will expand into Maine with a store to be built at the site of a former Lowe's in Biddeford.[3]

Contents

Awards [edit]

"Supermarket News ranked DeMoulas/Market Basket No. 43 in the 2010 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2009 fiscal year estimated sales of $3.0 billion.[4] Consumer Reports ranked DeMoulas/Market Basket as the No. 7 supermarket in their 2012 survey.

History [edit]

In 1916, Greek immigrants Athanasios ("Arthur") and Efrosini Demoulas opened a grocery store in Lowell, Massachusetts, specializing in fresh lamb. In 1954, they sold their store to two of their six children, Telemachus ("Mike") and George Demoulas. Within 15 years, the two brothers had transformed their parents' "mom and pop"-style store into a more modern supermarket chain consisting of 15 stores.

The last use of the name DeMoulas on a facade was on this former store in Salem, NH.

George Demoulas died of a heart attack in 1971 while vacationing in Greece, making Mike the sole head of the DeMoulas supermarket chain. Although each brother had promised to provide for the other's family in the event of his death, a lawsuit filed in 1990 by the heirs of George Demoulas claimed that Mike had defrauded them out of all but 8% of company stock by moving assets into shell companies, such as 'Market Basket Inc.' and 'Seabrook Sales Inc.' and claiming that these were separate companies from DeMoulas itself. The ensuing legal cases threatened to require the sale of the chain, most likely to Royal Ahold's Stop & Shop. In 1994, Judge Maria Lopez ruled that Mike Demoulas had defrauded George's family out of nearly $500 million, transferring 51% of Demoulas' stock to George's family.[5]

Mike Demoulas died in 2003 at age 82 and is buried in Andover, Massachusetts. In March 2006, Boston magazine rated George's son, Arthur S. Demoulas, as Boston's eighth wealthiest person, with assets of $1.6 billion.[6] He was not listed in the Forbes 2008 edition. In early 2008, the board of directors elected Arthur T. Demoulas president of the corporation.

A separate company controlled by the Mike DeMoulas side of the family operated the Lee Drug chain from 1983 until it was sold to Walgreens in 1990; these stores were usually located in the same shopping center as a DeMoulas/Market Basket. The chain's corporate relationship to Mike DeMoulas's family interest in DeMoulas/Market Basket was cited in the 1990s litigation.

Market Basket today [edit]

Typical Market Basket in Portsmouth, NH.
The interior of the largest Market Basket in Chelsea, MA.

Market Basket's main competitors include Hannaford, Shaw's, Stop & Shop, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Markets, McKinnon's Market, and smaller, local markets, such as Butcher Boy, and, to some extent, FoodMaster (formerly Johnnie's FoodMaster). Though the chain is often called DeMoulas, all of its stores now operate under the Market Basket name (the last of which, No. 6 in Salem, New Hampshire changed in spring 2010). Market Basket supermarkets are usually in shopping centers with other stores, often properties owned by the company through its real-estate arm, Retail Management and Development, Inc. Only two stores in the chain's history have ever closed: store 38, in Plaistow, New Hampshire and store 11, in Andover, Massachusetts. At the time of store 38's closing, there were two stores in Plaistow, NH, located close to one another on Route 125. A number of stores have moved out of existing locations in order to relocate to larger stores.

Market Basket's newest addition to their chain of stores was established on Cape Cod in Bourne Massachusetts in 2012.

Some cities are home to multiple stores. Market Basket has three stores in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where it has been the only supermarket chain for decades. There are four stores in Nashua, New Hampshire, three of which are located along the New Hampshire Route 101A commercial strip. There are three stores in Billerica, Massachusetts, all three of them are located along the Route 3A commercial strip. With the opening of the new Cornerstone Square shopping plaza, there are now two stores in Westford, Massachusetts as of December 2, 2012.

Market Basket lacks an official website, Facebook or Twitter account.

Modern improvements [edit]

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Market Basket has started adding Market's Kitchen to some of its existing stores and most of its new stores. Market's Kitchen offers submarine sandwiches, panini, rotisserie chickens, salads, and fried foods, as well as pre-made family-style meals. Many new stores also feature a dedicated seafood department that makes fresh sushi daily. Self checkouts do not exist in any store.

Unlike other grocery store chains in New England, Market Basket typically does not feature pharmacies within its stores, although in many cases, pharmacy chains such as Rite Aid are located in shopping plazas adjoining Market Basket stores, or in some other cases fairly close to the store.

Market Basket's flagship store in Chelsea, MA

Throughout the past five years, Market Basket has been opening about four or five new stores annually, while re-locating some stores to newly constructed or renovated buildings. Market Basket has invested in building new stores to replace smaller, older, and outdated stores. It has also renovated and updated equipment in stores that were built within the last 15 years.

Loyalty Cards [edit]

Like most low price grocers, Market Basket does not use supermarket loyalty cards.[7]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ supermarket news.com. supermarket news.com (December 28, 2007). Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
  2. ^ Shoppers pack Market Basket | CapeCodOnline.com
  3. ^ Mass.-based Market Basket moves to Maine Morning Sentinel, August 25, 2012
  4. ^ 2010 Top 75 North American Food Retailers', Supermarket News, Retrieved May 15, 2010.
  5. ^ DeMoulas/Market Basket Inc. Company History DeMoulas/Market Basket Company History
  6. ^ The 50 Wealthiest Bostonians. Boston. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  7. ^ Supermarket List

References [edit]

External links [edit]

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