Merchants: Market Basket boycott 'hurting everybody'
By Grant Welker, gwelker@lowellsun.com
Updated: 08/18/2014 01:06:07 PM
There are plenty of unused shopping carts, but no cars, in the parking lot at the older of Westford’s two Market Basket stores, on Littleton Road, on
There are plenty of unused shopping carts, but no cars, in the parking lot at the older of Westford's two Market Basket stores, on Littleton Road, on Sunday. Unfortunately, other merchants in plazas where there is a Market Basket have experienced a dramatic drop in business since the customer boycott began last month to protest the firing of former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas. SUN/David H. Brow
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Restaurants, liquor stores and other shops that have long relied on people deciding to grab dinner, a bottle of wine or run other errands while getting groceries at Market Basket have found themselves also seeing their sales dive during the grocery boycott over the past month.
That collateral damage has especially hit places like Busa Wine & Spirits on Littleton Road in Westford, a few storefronts down from the older of the town's two Market Baskets. Business has been down 20 percent to 30 percent, assistant manager Mark Dinardo said.
"It's hurting everybody," he said.
That includes places like the Papa Gino's next door. The pizzeria's delivery service remains steady, but at one point on Sunday afternoon, the restaurant didn't have a single table occupied.
"It’s hurting everybody," Mark Dinardo, assistant manager of Busa Wine & Spirits, said of the boycott of Market Basket stores. Busa is in
"It's hurting everybody," Mark Dinardo, assistant manager of Busa Wine & Spirits, said of the boycott of Market Basket stores. Busa is in the same Westford plaza as the older of the town's two Market Baskets. SUN/David H. Brow
Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.
At the same time, the plaza's Market Basket didn't have a single car parked outside its doors.
"It's been affecting us really bad," said Christopher Adams, a shift supervisor.
He and co-worker Justin Ford knew the ins and outs of the Demoulas family feud that has paralyzed the chain, and said they hope it comes to an end quickly.
As they spoke, a father picking up pizza with his son said they stopped into the plaza's Market Basket just to see how quiet it was. But they explained to the Market Basket workers that they were there only out of curiosity, he said, wanting to make it clear they wouldn't buy anything.
"It's a nightmare," Ford said.
Another storefront down, Julian Spanos knew the nightmare all too well.
The Chelmsford resident had been working each Sunday at the Chelmsford Market Basket to supplement his work at the Westford Radio Shack, which also happens to be the chain that current Market Basket co-CEO Jim Gooch -- one of the two people who replaced Arthur T. Demoulas as CEO in June, thus sparking the employee revolt -- is most known for formerly heading.
"There's definitely been a drop," Spanos said of Radio Shack's business in Westford.
Of the Market Basket standoff, he added, "It's insane.
Papa Gino’s on Littleton Road in Westford is empty Sunday afternoon, as are many other stores that happen to be in the same plaza as Market Basket
Papa Gino's on Littleton Road in Westford is empty Sunday afternoon, as are many other stores that happen to be in the same plaza as Market Basket stores during an ongoing, employee-led boycott of the grocery chain's stores. "It's been affecting us really bad," Christopher Adams, above, a shift supervisor at Papa Gino's, said of the boycott. SUN/David H. Brow
Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.
It's completely baffling to me."
Market Basket front-office staff and store managers have estimated that stores have lost 90 percent or more of their business on average in the past month as customers have stayed away in droves.
The boycott has been largely attributed to customers siding with Market Basket employees fighting to get their old boss back. Market Basket's new executives have said they need to fully stock stores again in order for customers to return.
Market Basket's board of directors has said it has agreed on an unspecified price for Arthur T. to buy the company. But they remain at odds over other facets of a deal, which Arthur T. has described as "onerous."
Some businesses at Cornerstone Square in Westford are also feeling the squeeze as the development's anchor sits mostly empty. Premier Cleaners and Westford Wine & Spirits, which both rely on shoppers multitasking while making a trip to the plaza, both said they've seen sharp drops in business.
The same was reported at Treble Cove Plaza in Billerica, where one of the town's three Market Basket stores is located. Business has been down 10 percent to 15 percent at 7 Nana Japanese Steakhouse, manager Mai Kanok said. Supercuts also reported a noticeable but not major drop in business as people, particularly toward the start of the boycott, seemed to stay away from the plaza entirely, an employee said.
At Lincoln Liquors, business has slowly begun picking up after that initial sharp drop, employee Sarah Morrison said. The store has decided to no longer buy lemons at the plaza's Market Basket, she said, making the same decision to stay away that has cost the grocery chain millions of dollars a day.
"It hurts the whole plaza," manager Victor Andrade said.
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この食品ストア｢マーケット・バスケット｣(非上場/売上高45億ドル、従業員約2.5万人)はマサチューセッツやニューハンプシャー、メイン州に71店を展開する。
アーサー.T.デモーラスCEO(2008年就任)を6月に50.5%の株式保有を悪用して取締役会を乗っ取った従兄弟のアーサー.S.デモーラス被告が6月に不当に解任したことが混乱の始まりであった。しかも後継者と称する人物は企業売却を行ってきたFelicia Thornton被告 とJames Gooch被告が選ばれた。
だがTさんは業界としては価格の待遇を提供してきたことから従業員から人望があり、Tさんを支持し、ボイコットを始めたのだった。しかも利用客には不買を訴えた。利用客も他のストアよりも低価格で商品を提供するこのチェーン店の守るため不買運動に協力し、その結果このチェーン店には買い手がつかない状況になった。
追い込まれた自称経営者のS被告は50.5％をやむなく残る49.5％の株式を保有するTさんに15億円で売却し、8月27日に6週間にわたって行われたボイコットは終了、決着したのであった。
私はS被告のMBAによる利益確保は否定しない。
しかし、このS被告は明らかに傲慢だった。Tさんが利益を従業員と折半するのに対してS被告は独り占めなのだから反発されて当然だろう。Tさんへの憎しみをS被告は会社に持ち込んだ。その段階で公私混同をやってはならない経営者の鉄則を破ったことを意味する。
左は正統経営者のアーサー.T.デモラスさん、右は傲慢な自称経営者のアーサー.S.デモラス被告
S被告の共犯者 James Gooch被告とFelicia Thornton被告
アメリカでも血も涙も通う経営者はいる。
このニュースで分かったではないか。ローランドの自称経営者どもに警告する。今すぐ違法な経営陣による企業買収をやめ、モノづくりの原点に潔く立ち戻るべきだ。
だが、日本では同じようなことは起きない。なぜなら、まともな経営者を育てる事を日本の財界人どもはしなかったからだ。そういう意味では際立って自民党長期大独裁政権の財界甘やかし政策は罪が重い。
