Last week, Michele's link-up post for #5FavesWednesday was all about Aldi's. While I've heard great things about that chain, I've only been to one location (in South Carolina) and don't live anywhere near one. I have, however, been shopping at Market Basket* since I discovered this amazing chain five years ago. Since I am embarrassingly obsessed with this grocery store, I'm blatantly copying using as inspiration Michele's post and linking up with Jenna at Call Her Happy. And you thought I couldn't get any nerdier than reading a book about a grocery store.
1. I feel great shopping there. Supporting local business? Check. Market Basket only has locations in New England and is a significant buyer from New England farms, vendors and brands. In fact, Athanasios Demoulas was the first grocer to stock Ken's salad dressing and Cape Cod potato chips, eventually catapulting them into national brands. Treating employees well? Check. Market Basket has a profit-sharing program open to the highest management and the lowest cashier positions. I mean, they can't treat them too badly if they're willing to go on strike for their CEO. Their management is only recruited from store associates. Dedication to the communities they serve? Check. Market Basket targets lower income communities by opening new stores in accessible locations and recruiting locals to work there for well over minimum wage.
And if you aren't familiar with the Market Basket strike of 2014, you ought to check it out. It's proof that the corporate world may not entirely be the trope of the little guy losing.
2. Helpful and friendly employees. They don't cut corners like many mainline grocery stores. No automated checkouts. Every aisle has a bagger. Cashiers routinely offer to call someone from cart corralling to help me load my groceries in my car. According to the book I read, the reason the shelves are stocked during regular store aisles is to make sure that employees are in the aisles. Not only are they there, they are more than happy to rip open a crate and hand to you whatever the tower of flat packs happens to be blocking.
3. Just as much selection as the big chains. But cheaper. A certain national grocery chain opened close to my town, and it's attracting customers because its prices are lower than the entrenched Stop and Shop and Shaws. I went on an exploratory mission, and was alarmed to see that SunButter was "on sale" $6 a jar! The regular price is $4/jar at Market Basket, and since Sir Toddler has a peanut allergy, we love our SunButter. (Well, he does. I accept it as an inferior but infinitely less scary option.) The newer stores are huge and have lots of the same features as, say, a Wegmans. I can get everything on my list (except, inexplicably, carving pumpkins as of yesterday. And beer and wine, which aren't sold in any nearby stores).
4. Reduced meat and produce worth buying. The summer of the Market Basket strike, I remember going to Stop and Shop for the first time in over a year to pick up some strawberries on sale. The carton I picked from the regular produce section was the only one that didn't have mold in it. The reduced produce cart looked like everything was already compost. When I buy chicken at Shaws, it turns rotten overnight unless I freeze or cook it the second I get home, regardless of the sell-by date. At Market Basket, even the marked-down food looks fresh. I can get slightly bruised and cracked apples, bunches of grapes with a handful of wrinkled ones, or red bell peppers with one brown spot for half price. Considering how quickly we go through produce here, it really makes a difference in our food budget. The markdowns are the only reason I've been able to justify us ever eating artichokes since Sir Toddler was born.
5. More for my dollar! "More for your dollar" is their tag line, and Market Basket lives up to it. Living in a high cost-of-living area means that an absurd amount of our money goes into rent and groceries. Having kids and wanting them to eat (relatively) healthy means an even more absurd amount of money goes into groceries. That's really their draw. Look at how hilariously retro that logo is. The stores are kept clean, but plain. The store associates still wear ties and smocks. There is no website, or club card, and the store circular is plain ugly. I just think it's funny that so many other grocery chains put so much R&D budget into developing smartphone apps...and Market Basket is sitting over here, like, "You know what? We're just not going to gouge our customers with our prices and let them come."
"Food Fight: The Battle for Market Basket" is a documentary slated to be released soon. Watch the trailer here.
*I understand that there is a completely unrelated chain of stores called "Market Basket" in Texas and Louisiana. Wikipedia refers to the New England chain as "Demoulas Market Basket."
1. I feel great shopping there. Supporting local business? Check. Market Basket only has locations in New England and is a significant buyer from New England farms, vendors and brands. In fact, Athanasios Demoulas was the first grocer to stock Ken's salad dressing and Cape Cod potato chips, eventually catapulting them into national brands. Treating employees well? Check. Market Basket has a profit-sharing program open to the highest management and the lowest cashier positions. I mean, they can't treat them too badly if they're willing to go on strike for their CEO. Their management is only recruited from store associates. Dedication to the communities they serve? Check. Market Basket targets lower income communities by opening new stores in accessible locations and recruiting locals to work there for well over minimum wage.
And if you aren't familiar with the Market Basket strike of 2014, you ought to check it out. It's proof that the corporate world may not entirely be the trope of the little guy losing.
(source)
2. Helpful and friendly employees. They don't cut corners like many mainline grocery stores. No automated checkouts. Every aisle has a bagger. Cashiers routinely offer to call someone from cart corralling to help me load my groceries in my car. According to the book I read, the reason the shelves are stocked during regular store aisles is to make sure that employees are in the aisles. Not only are they there, they are more than happy to rip open a crate and hand to you whatever the tower of flat packs happens to be blocking.
(source)
3. Just as much selection as the big chains. But cheaper. A certain national grocery chain opened close to my town, and it's attracting customers because its prices are lower than the entrenched Stop and Shop and Shaws. I went on an exploratory mission, and was alarmed to see that SunButter was "on sale" $6 a jar! The regular price is $4/jar at Market Basket, and since Sir Toddler has a peanut allergy, we love our SunButter. (Well, he does. I accept it as an inferior but infinitely less scary option.) The newer stores are huge and have lots of the same features as, say, a Wegmans. I can get everything on my list (except, inexplicably, carving pumpkins as of yesterday. And beer and wine, which aren't sold in any nearby stores).
4. Reduced meat and produce worth buying. The summer of the Market Basket strike, I remember going to Stop and Shop for the first time in over a year to pick up some strawberries on sale. The carton I picked from the regular produce section was the only one that didn't have mold in it. The reduced produce cart looked like everything was already compost. When I buy chicken at Shaws, it turns rotten overnight unless I freeze or cook it the second I get home, regardless of the sell-by date. At Market Basket, even the marked-down food looks fresh. I can get slightly bruised and cracked apples, bunches of grapes with a handful of wrinkled ones, or red bell peppers with one brown spot for half price. Considering how quickly we go through produce here, it really makes a difference in our food budget. The markdowns are the only reason I've been able to justify us ever eating artichokes since Sir Toddler was born.
(source)
5. More for my dollar! "More for your dollar" is their tag line, and Market Basket lives up to it. Living in a high cost-of-living area means that an absurd amount of our money goes into rent and groceries. Having kids and wanting them to eat (relatively) healthy means an even more absurd amount of money goes into groceries. That's really their draw. Look at how hilariously retro that logo is. The stores are kept clean, but plain. The store associates still wear ties and smocks. There is no website, or club card, and the store circular is plain ugly. I just think it's funny that so many other grocery chains put so much R&D budget into developing smartphone apps...and Market Basket is sitting over here, like, "You know what? We're just not going to gouge our customers with our prices and let them come."
"Food Fight: The Battle for Market Basket" is a documentary slated to be released soon. Watch the trailer here.
*I understand that there is a completely unrelated chain of stores called "Market Basket" in Texas and Louisiana. Wikipedia refers to the New England chain as "Demoulas Market Basket."
Way cool! I don't live near a Market Basket, but I do live near Aldi. I need to go back there, I've heard they are jumping on the organic and non-gmo wagon.
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