Free Republic

Typically, the scariest thing you’ll encounter at a grocery store is long lines at the checkout or an expired coupon. For shoppers in Wilmington, Mass. it’s an apparition that appears to be a young woman in Victorian clothing. A members-only page on Facebook, dedicated to local events and possible coyote sightings in the area, has the community buzzing after several people reported seeing a young woman, between the age of 17 and 30, with light skin, dark hair, and blue eyes in out-of-fashion clothes wandering the aisles of Market Basket on Main Street. One shopper, according to Patch.com, is familiar...

"Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." A typical paradigm for a family business; mom and pop start the business, their children successfully grow the business, and the greedy acrimonious grandchildren squabble amongst themselves and fritter away the business. The Demoulas family, of the Market Basket supermarket chain in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, has added some new wrinkles. Looking at Market Basket from the outside, you will see a business with discernibly lower prices, an operation with noticeably better service, and a staff anxious to please. The workers are much better paid than the competition and their total compensation includes...

The battle for Market Basket has at last engulfed Governor Deval Patrick. Patrick penned a letter to the board of directors of the company Friday offering to lend a hand to solve the dispute that has left supermarket shelves empty and many employees without paychecks, the Boston Globe reports. According to the Globe, Patrick noted that he would not take sides, but would offer any help to resolve the standoff and return employees to work. “By any measure, the disruption caused by your recent change in CEO has gotten out of hand, and I am writing to urge you to...

A New England supermarket chain embroiled in a labor dispute provides a boon for its competitors—or does it? One week after a company-wide employee dispute slammed the breaks on food deliveries, the shelves are looking pretty barren inside most of New England’s 70 or so Market Basket stores. Rather than shuffle past picket lines to contend with empty meat cases and dwindling produce bins, many of the region’s customers have been taking their business elsewhere. Exactly how many customers have been going elsewhere is a question that’s begging to be answered, though of some of the area’s competing grocers are...

A big local story from this weekend was centered around Market Basket and its employees’ ongoing movement to re-install former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas. ... Why are employees protesting, anyway? OK, the long answer goes back decades. In the very short-term, Market Basket employees are extremely loyal to the former CEO, Demoulas, who was fired last month and replaced with Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton. Two other executives were fired at the time, and seven more resigned the next day. A couple weeks back, employees outright demanded Demoulas be re-instated as CEO. When they didn’t hear an answer by the...