DeMoulas/Market Basket

Market Basket

Type	Privately held company
Industry	Grocery
Founded	Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S. (1917 (1917))
Headquarters	Tewksbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
Number of locations	66
Area served	New Hampshire, Massachusetts
Key people	Arthur T. DeMoulas, president Joseph L. Rockwell, Vice President Donald Mulligan, CFO William J. Shea, Chairman Joseph Schmidt, David McLean, Operations Managers Tom Trainor, Grocery Supervisor
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	$3.8 billion US$ (2009)
Employees	18,000 (2011)
Parent	DeMoulas Supermarkets, Inc

DeMoulas Market Basket, more commonly known as Market Basket, is a chain of 66 operating supermarkets in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.^[1] It has stores from central New Hampshire to Bristol County, Massachusetts with headquarters in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Future expansion of Market Basket will also bring it to Cape Cod.

While the chain has no official website, fan websites have been created including a list of current store locations. 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.^[2]

Early history

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.^[3]

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.^[4] 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

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 66 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—number 38, in Plaistow, New Hampshire and number 11 in Andover, Massachusetts—have ever closed, although stores have closed in order to relocate to larger locations.

Modern improvements

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.

New stores

On June 10, 2009, Market Basket replaced its Chelsea, Massachusetts, store with a new building built on part of the DeMoulas-owned Mystic Mall. The New Bedford, Massachusetts (#65)^[5] store had its grand opening on Wednesday, October 6, 2010. On December 12, 2010, next door to their previous store, the Burlington, Massachusetts (#24) Market Basket opened their new store, 3 times the size of their previous store. The 108,000-square-foot (10,000 m²) brand new Londonderry, New Hampshire (#42) Market Basket celebrated its grand opening on June 5, 2011.^[6][7] On June 26, 2011, a new building opened for store No. 2 Lowell, Massachusetts on Bridge Street and is the 3rd Market Basket to have been built on that site.^[8] Hooksett, New Hampshire (#66) celebrated its grand opening on September 21, 2011.^[9] New buildings are currently under construction in Manchester, New Hampshire (#67),^[10] Bourne, Massachusetts,^[11] and Haverhill, Massachusetts (#9).^[12] Bedford, New Hampshire planned opening in the fall of 2013,^[13] Brockton, Massachusetts,^[14][15] West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and Hudson, Massachusetts^[15] are future locations currently planned to be constructed in 2012.

While Market Basket has stores near the borders of Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine, no expansion into these states has yet been announced.

Notes

1. ^ supermarket news.com. supermarket news.com (December 28, 2007). Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
2. ^ 2010 Top 75 North American Food Retailers', Supermarket News, Last accessed: May 15, 2010.
3. ^ DeMoulas/Market Basket Inc. Company History DeMoulas/Market Basket Company History
4. ^ The 50 Wealthiest Bostonians. Boston Magazine. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
5. ^ New Bedford Welcomes Market Basket to Riverside Landing Development Project. New Bedford 360 (August 19, 2009). Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
6. ^ A Look Inside the New Market Basket – Londonderry News. Londonderrynh.net (June 2, 2011). Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
7. ^ Opening of mega Market Basket in Londonderry draws thousands | New Hampshire NEWS02. Unionleader.com (June 5, 2011). Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
8. ^ Market Basket opens new Bridge Street supermarket – Lowell Sun Online. Lowellsun.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
9. ^ New Market Basket opens early for eager shoppers | New Hampshire NEWS02. Unionleader.com (September 21, 2011). Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
10. ^ Pro Con begins construction for new Market Basket Store. NEREJ. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
11. ^ Gately, Paul. (January 20, 2011) Market Basket store will come to Sagamore – - The Bourne Courier. Wickedlocal.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
12. ^ Westgate Market Plaza – Property Info. Rmd-inc.net. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
13. ^ Market Basket gets Bedford OK | New Hampshire NEWS02. Unionleader.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
14. ^ Market Basket to open in Brockton – Lowell Sun Online. Lowellsun.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.
15. ^ ^{a b} Adams, Steve. (July 3, 2011) Massachusetts grocery shoppers may get some price relief – Brockton, MA – The Enterprise. Enterprisenews.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.

References

• Worcester Telegram
• http://rmd-inc.net/news.aspx "developer of the Market Basket supermarket chain"

External links

• Financial and business information from Hoovers.com