Original Demoulas Market Basket Post and Follow-up

I am reposting my August 5th article because several people have expressed in interest in this post, and they were unable to read it from another site.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The First Demoulas Market Basket in Lowell, Massachusetts, the Fighting Two Cousins and All the News it's Making

Cropped photo taken May 14, 2014.

The First Demoulas Market was established in

Lowell in 1917 by Athanasios "Arthur" Demoulas

and his wife Efrosene (Soulemanis) Demoulas.

Immigrants who ten years earlier had arrived

in Lowell from Kalabaka, Greece.

In 1955, the market was incorporated by their

sons Telemachus and George, who expanded the

business to 14 supermarkets before George's

early death in 1971.

Telemachus went on to create on of the

largest supermarket chains in New England.

He became a well known and respected

philanthropist beloved throughout the

acre and the city of Lowell for his

generosity, his vision and his spirit.

He died in  2003 at the age of 82.

The photo above and below were taken behind the house where James McNeil Whistler was born.

 (The marker is in the middle, with red car to the left.)

To read more about this family and the business, see Wikipedia HERE or google Demoulas or Market Basket. It is currently on our Massachusetts news non-stop, and on national news as well. I'm posting this because there might be some people who would like to see photos from two of their 71 stores.

There is a feud between two cousins and apparently, there has been bad blood for many years. Both cousins have the first name, one is Arthur S. and the other Arthur T.

As a result of the favored cousin's firing, the employees are extremely upset, as are the customers. People are not shopping in the stores, instead dragging themselves to the more expensive stores such as Hannaford, Stop and Shop and Shaws as a way to force the other cousin to change his ways. Employees and customers are picketing side by side and many customers are bringing food for the employees. This began at least 12 days ago, and nobody knows when it will end or what the outcome will be. Update: Agreement made on August 27th around midnight.

Customers are taping their receipts from competitive stores on the doors. Market Basket is losing at least 10 million a day because of this. Update: the company lost 95% of it's business during the six weeks of the boycott.

Unsold bread and other perishables are donated to food banks. There hasn't been produce in the stores for about 14 days (correction, it became 6 weeks), so many of the local farms are doing a brisk business, now selling fresh blueberries, corn and other crops.

 Burial site of Artie T's Father. I am not going to disclose the location, and it isn't on FindAGrave.

“You proved, all of you, that your grass-roots efforts to save your company and harness thousands and thousands of people was not about a family conflict or a Greek tragedy,” he said, “but more about fairness, justice and a solid moral compass that unites the human soul.

Arthur T. Demoulas

The below photos were taken on August 28th. The customers and employees, along with Artie T. are now one happy family, after almost two months of uncertainty.