Speaker 1: It's night time. We're talking about the tenth anniversary of
Speaker 1: the the battle over market Basket. I'm sure those of
Speaker 1: you who are from the area will remember this pitched
Speaker 1: battle between two cousins, rd T and RDS de Mulis,
Speaker 1: And it turned out that one of them prevailed, largely
Speaker 1: in part because of his loyalty to the To the
Speaker 1: members who worked at market market Basket, They're not there
Speaker 1: was a non unit. I still believe it's a non union,
Speaker 1: a group of workers, but they were very loyal. They
Speaker 1: walked out when he was dethroned from the board of
Speaker 1: directors as the president of the company by his cousin. Uh.
Speaker 1: And we're looking back at have what made what is
Speaker 1: made market Basket so successful and should other American companies
Speaker 1: follow suit? Basically, treat customers like they're valued. I mean
Speaker 1: it's pretty simple. Uh. You can get good service in
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, smaller stores, okay, and in
Speaker 1: certain smaller restaurants. But I don't think there's any grocery
Speaker 1: chain in Massachusetts that treats its customers not only from
Speaker 1: a from the price point of view, but also from
Speaker 1: just the shopping experience point of view as well as
Speaker 1: market Basket and feel free. If you want to stick
Speaker 1: up for another grocery chain, feel feel free. But ten
Speaker 1: years on, market Basket is still going strong. Where we're
Speaker 1: going to go next, let us go to a Dave
Speaker 1: in Barrington, New Hampshire. Dave, you are next on nightside.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Hi Dan, thanks for taking my.
Speaker 1: Call, Thanks for calling in.
Speaker 3: Go right ahead, so well.
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: I live in Barrington, New Hampshire now and we do
Speaker 2: have a local mind Basket and I continue to go there.
Speaker 2: At the time of the situation ten years ago, I
Speaker 2: lived in Massachusetts, a little bit west of Boston, out
Speaker 2: in Bolton, and we shopped at Mark Cabasket and enjoyed
Speaker 2: our experience there. But I was absolutely amazed when that
Speaker 2: whole situation happened and I saw the loyalty of the
Speaker 2: employees that they would go on strike for their CEO.
Speaker 2: I remember thinking, wow, I mean, that place must be
Speaker 2: a fantastic place to work to have that kind of
Speaker 2: loyalty from your employees. And unfortunately I didn't hear your
Speaker 2: whole discussion with the professor from MIT. I'm actually an
Speaker 2: alumni from Sloan from more years ago than I care
Speaker 2: to admit. But I remember saying to my wife at
Speaker 2: the time what that was going on. I said, this
Speaker 2: is going to be a Sloan in Harvard business case.
Speaker 2: There's no doubt in my mind that they're going to
Speaker 2: many articles and business cases about this kind of employee loyalty.
Speaker 3: So uh.
Speaker 1: The professors from Sloan was named Professor Thomas K. H
Speaker 1: A n H. And he did do the case studies
Speaker 1: quoted in the in the Globe today. So you don't
Speaker 1: know if he was teaching there when you were there.
Speaker 1: He's an emeritus at this point, professor professor.
Speaker 2: Yes he was. He was, he was a professor I had.
Speaker 2: I don't have any you know, close connection to him
Speaker 2: at this point. I'm sure he wouldn't know who I am.
Speaker 2: But yes, he was there at the time, and uh
Speaker 2: when I was there. So uh, like I said, it's
Speaker 2: more years ago than I care to admit, but uh,
Speaker 2: you know so, so I thought about your question. I said,
Speaker 2: why do I still go to market basket? What is
Speaker 2: it about it that I see from a customer standpoint?
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, certainly, the selection of food
Speaker 2: is good, the quality is good, the produce is good. Uh,
Speaker 2: And so I'm always and the prices are are are
Speaker 2: certain competitive. I'm not always looking for the cheapest thing ever,
Speaker 2: but they're certainly competitive. But I have to admit the
Speaker 2: the just the atmosphere in the store is positive, is
Speaker 2: always positive. My experience has always been great. And like
Speaker 2: several of your other college have said, you know, if
Speaker 2: you ask somebody for help, they will go out of
Speaker 2: their way to walk you right to the item you're
Speaker 2: looking for. And I'd just tell you, yeah, I think
Speaker 2: it's an aisle six. They will take it to you
Speaker 2: and show you where it is. And it's just that
Speaker 2: kind of an attitude that that comes from, you know,
Speaker 2: how how they're treated and how they're treated directly goes,
Speaker 2: you know, cascades down to how they treat the customers.
Speaker 1: It's a happy employee.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: And if you're proud of the place you work and
Speaker 1: you're proud of the way you're being treated, you're going
Speaker 1: to pass it on. I mean that's and that was
Speaker 1: what the professor emphasized that and why more companies don't
Speaker 1: inculcate that attitude with their employees.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was. I was extremely impressed with and so
Speaker 2: you know, once once that situation happened ten years ago.
Speaker 2: You know when when the you know, they reinstated Arthur
Speaker 2: t and and and the employees came back and the
Speaker 2: customers went back. Because I also didn't go to the
Speaker 2: store while that was going on. Uh, in support of
Speaker 2: the CEO and support of the employees. UH, I started
Speaker 2: paying attention to you know, Okay, what is it about
Speaker 2: this place that makes it different? And you know some
Speaker 2: of the things that I've just said, as well as
Speaker 2: the others, I think we're are part of that that
Speaker 2: that lesson. But I agree, you know, other many of
Speaker 2: the stores, and not just grocery stores, should be seeking
Speaker 2: to understand how the culture there and trying to replicate
Speaker 2: that in their businesses because they certainly have the loyalty
Speaker 2: of the employees and their customer base.
Speaker 1: All Right, I appreciate you taking the time to call in, Dave,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, UH.
Speaker 2: Call your question all right, Thank you, good night.
Speaker 1: Let me get Beverly in here from Revere. Beverly you
Speaker 1: were next time nights. I go right ahead. You have
Speaker 1: thoughts on market Basket or on growth market Basket or
Speaker 1: grocery stores generally, I.
Speaker 5: Can I gotta tell you, I'm an old Demolis person
Speaker 5: nineteen trifty six and haybro.
Speaker 1: Wow, Well, dems can't correct me if I'm wrong. But
Speaker 1: Demolis became market Basket, right.
Speaker 5: That's right. I moved out to Chelsea Ebett Rebem nineteen
Speaker 5: fifty six. There was no Demolas, no market Basket. I
Speaker 5: was lost. When market Basket came to redeem Ebert Mauldon,
Speaker 5: I was, I was so happy.
Speaker 1: Oh that's great, that's it's it's amazing how you get
Speaker 1: comfortable with a store and uh and the way you're
Speaker 1: treated in that in.
Speaker 5: That store, they were good in nineteen fifty six when
Speaker 5: they had the problem what ten years ago?
Speaker 1: Two? Yeah, no, I know, but guess what, they survived
Speaker 1: and they are now prospering and they're they are back
Speaker 1: in the game.
Speaker 3: It's just they were previous.
Speaker 5: Carla said it all.
Speaker 1: There, Cala, Yes, David from Barrington, New Hampshire. Okay, then
Speaker 1: we'll let you Okay, all right, Beverly, thank you for
Speaker 1: your call, and thank you for checking in from Revere
Speaker 1: with us tonight, talk soon, Okay, bye, thank you, Beverly,
Speaker 1: good night. UH we can continue this. I enjoy talking
Speaker 1: about your consumer experiences because I'm a consumer as well,
Speaker 1: and I always like to kind of figure out if
Speaker 1: my audience is on the same wavelength as I am.
Speaker 1: So if you want to tell me that you've had
Speaker 1: great experiences, said some other supermarket, you can do that.
Speaker 1: I think that as I've said that, I think that
Speaker 1: Shaws and Star Market are now overly reliant on their
Speaker 1: app Now again, they have been bought by a company
Speaker 1: called Albertson's, which is out of the Northwest. I think
Speaker 1: they're out of from Idaho or Washington State. But it's
Speaker 1: not market basket, and as a matter of fact, it
Speaker 1: is so confusing, at least for me. You don't have
Speaker 1: as many choices where I spend the summer as you
Speaker 1: do where I spend the balance of the year. So
Speaker 1: feel free join the conversation left to hear from you.
Speaker 1: It's ten years ago. It seems like yesterday. Well it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like ten years It seems like maybe if
Speaker 1: someone said to me, when was the market basket problems
Speaker 1: that big, big, big story, I would have said five
Speaker 1: years ago, maybe six at most ten years ago. Time
Speaker 1: fivees six, one seven, two, five four ten thirty six
Speaker 1: one seven nine three. Coming right back.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 2: Night Side studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 1: Okay, back to the phones, talking a little bit about
Speaker 1: Market Basket. Jeff is in Lenox, out in the Berkshires. Hey, Jeff,
Speaker 1: welcome to night Side.
Speaker 3: Hey, how are you doing?
Speaker 5: Dan?
Speaker 3: Good? Good, good, good good. Listen. I'm I'm on my
Speaker 3: way back home, my way back home now. But I
Speaker 3: just left Market Basket. I stopped there cat in groceries
Speaker 3: and I'm bringing them back home.
Speaker 1: How far back? How far is home from Lenox? Jeff?
Speaker 3: If I could ask, two and a half hours one way.
Speaker 1: So you live in Massachusets.
Speaker 3: Thirty miles from I'm thirty miles with already in New York.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, that's that's where Lenox is. So where are
Speaker 1: you headed? Where's home?
Speaker 3: I'm hitting I'm hitting back there now. I just came
Speaker 3: into Boston. I just came in the Boston. I was
Speaker 3: in the North Shore. I was I was in Uh.
Speaker 3: I was in Uh. Actually I was in Woburn.
Speaker 1: So I'm confused. Home is Lennox. You're not calling from Lenox.
Speaker 1: Home is Lennox.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no, I'm on my way back
Speaker 3: to Lenox now from from Woburn.
Speaker 1: No, no, I get that. But what I'm saying, is
Speaker 1: you're you're saying you're driving home. You're driving home to Lenox, correct,
Speaker 1: got you? Okay, that's all I thought.
Speaker 3: I said, right, yes, all right, I got it.
Speaker 1: So you flipped this on and you you just uh
Speaker 1: did you.
Speaker 3: Whenever you come this way on the way home. And
Speaker 3: I'm saying, I've got to call. I've got to call
Speaker 3: because I remember during during the strength, these people were
Speaker 3: out there. And one thing is my family from my
Speaker 3: in laws are from Chelsea. Okay, And and that's you
Speaker 3: know that. You know the joke that and Chelsea is
Speaker 3: you can get in the store, but you can't get out.
Speaker 3: It is so crowded all the time, doesn't matter what
Speaker 3: time could should be. Yeah, but the way, but the way,
Speaker 3: the way that this just like the other caller said,
Speaker 3: there's a vibe when you go in your store. When
Speaker 3: I went into the one into the one in the Revere,
Speaker 3: because I used to live in Salt, I mean, uh
Speaker 3: in Saugets. I know thee I know the workers there.
Speaker 3: And I had a lesson with my daughter because I
Speaker 3: told her, listen, go and bag the go help them
Speaker 3: bag the groceries. And she says, oh no, they got
Speaker 3: people to do that. I'm saying you never. There are
Speaker 3: three people that you don't mess with. The ones to
Speaker 3: fix your food, the one that fixes your car, and
Speaker 3: the one that that bags your groceries. They'll put the
Speaker 3: hot chicken on top of the ice cream. They'll put
Speaker 3: the ten pounds of potatoes on top of your potato chips,
Speaker 3: and the bread and the eggs.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. Let me tell you first
Speaker 1: of all, I bag my own groceries when I go
Speaker 1: to store to the stores because I like the geometry
Speaker 1: of it, the idea of, you know, packing a bag
Speaker 1: so that all the space is used. You don't make
Speaker 1: it too heavy, you don't make it too light. If
Speaker 1: you need two bags, you need two bags. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm with I'm with you on that. Jeff and I worked.
Speaker 3: Listen, it's a skill. It is a skill to pack
Speaker 3: grocer properly.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, Yes, sir. And I did it as a
Speaker 1: young kid. When I was fifteen or sixteen, I worked
Speaker 1: as a bag boy at stopping shop. It's probably the
Speaker 1: first job, real job that I had where I got
Speaker 1: a paycheck in my hand, as opposed to a few
Speaker 1: bucks for cutting someone's lawn. So look, have a safe
Speaker 1: ride back to Lenox. We'll keep your company all the way. Okay,
Speaker 1: you've got it.
Speaker 3: Good enough, Dan, great show, good stuff.
Speaker 1: Thanks Jeff, talk to you soon. Okay, I'm gonna keep rolling.
Speaker 1: He're gonna go to Helen in Canton, Massachusetts. Hey, Helen,
Speaker 1: how are you tonight?
Speaker 6: Hi?
Speaker 5: Hi?
Speaker 4: Hi Dan.
Speaker 7: I haven't called for a while, have you been.
Speaker 1: I've been great. Welcome back a stranger.
Speaker 7: I know, I know, thank you. It's just hard for me.
Speaker 7: I told you I work overnight, so I run into work.
Speaker 7: Sometimes I want to call, but I don't have time
Speaker 7: to wait.
Speaker 1: Well, we've got you now. So what's your experience with
Speaker 1: market basks?
Speaker 7: I was, I love Market Based. We have a family
Speaker 7: history with them. We're he've been friends with the family
Speaker 7: for years. Uh, not myself, but my father was like
Speaker 7: really good friends with the owner of the senior.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 7: But when when I went in there a couple like
Speaker 7: a few months ago, I asked one of the kids
Speaker 7: there working at the register, I said, how do you
Speaker 7: like working here? I said, he said he loved it,
Speaker 7: And I said how's it pay? Because I was going
Speaker 7: to try to get my son a job there, And
Speaker 7: he goes it's okay, it's fine, he goes. But it's
Speaker 7: not bad. It's just they treat us so well. Here,
Speaker 7: that's what he loved about it. They the owner owners
Speaker 7: like treat them like human beings.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: Well, sometimes that more owners of businesses should understand that
Speaker 1: and realize that their workers are their representatives to the public.
Speaker 1: When you go to the store, you're never going to
Speaker 1: meet the owner, or you might one day out of
Speaker 1: the year, but you're going to meet an employee two
Speaker 1: or three occasions as you walk through that store. And
Speaker 1: those are the people that are going to represent your
Speaker 1: own store. Yep.
Speaker 7: And that's what does the dedicated employees, I mean, you know.
Speaker 1: And and a paycheck's a nice thing, but a patter
Speaker 1: on the back, a word of encouragement will do more
Speaker 1: to inspire an employee to work harder and to do better,
Speaker 1: I think than than just about anything. The fact that
Speaker 1: someone recognizes that, hey, you're out there trying to represent
Speaker 1: the organization.
Speaker 2: Well, couldn't agree exactly.
Speaker 7: Well, I love the subject. I'm glad you had it
Speaker 7: on so well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just figured tenth anniversary it might be a
Speaker 1: nice fun topic. On a late August Thursday night, to
Speaker 1: talk about it. You heading in work.
Speaker 7: I am actually I'm waiting outside to go park in
Speaker 7: the garage.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, thank you for waiting and being patient
Speaker 1: for us.
Speaker 7: Okay, thanks Dan, and I love listening to you every night.
Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate it so much, hell and I really do.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of people out there. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of Helen's out there, and uh no, but
Speaker 1: there's a lot of Helen's, and there's a lot of Maureen's,
Speaker 1: and a lot of Joe's, and a lot of rich
Speaker 1: and a lot of everybody. Uh And I'm absolutely truly
Speaker 1: honored to think that you would actually turn my show
Speaker 1: on whether you're at home or in the car, because
Speaker 1: that's a choice. And I really think.
Speaker 7: You make my night every night.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: That's that's the ultimate compliment. Thanks so much. We'll talk again,
Speaker 1: have a good night too.
Speaker 4: Bye.
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I mean that honestly from
Speaker 1: the from the bottom of my heart. The fact that
Speaker 1: you have so many entertainment options and you stick with
Speaker 1: us on Night Side, it blows me. Way. Let me
Speaker 1: go next to Maureen in Brockton. Maureene, welcome back to Nightside.
Speaker 3: How are you hi?
Speaker 4: Dan? Good thank you, and thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 4: I'm going to make this real quick because I don't
Speaker 4: want to I want everybody to get the chance. So
Speaker 4: you had originally talked about what you had mentioned like
Speaker 4: grocery store loyalty, et cetera. My late mother was probably
Speaker 4: a She really enjoyed stopping shop. So for years you
Speaker 4: would get a good bargain, you would get the price,
Speaker 4: the food, the value. I was living in Brighton before
Speaker 4: I moved to Brockton, and now that I live in Brockton,
Speaker 4: they're closing the stopping shop. But the quality and what
Speaker 4: it's not the same the stopping shop.
Speaker 2: So but.
Speaker 4: I do find the value at market basket. There is
Speaker 4: one over in the Westgate Mall. It is a little
Speaker 4: further than where I'm you know, to go past stocking shop.
Speaker 4: But but I but again, like everyone else has said,
Speaker 4: I show up the value. I'll shop the flyers if
Speaker 4: something is on sale at door a and there's something,
Speaker 4: I mean, and I'm not going that many that farm,
Speaker 4: you know, that far to travel. But and that was
Speaker 4: something that my mother instilled in me many many years ago.
Speaker 4: As far as you know, uge she raised seven children,
Speaker 4: so she only had so much money to be able
Speaker 4: to stretch, you know, to be able to get the groceries.
Speaker 4: So I think that's what was instilled in me. So
Speaker 4: you really have to you know, I've always had good
Speaker 4: good luck.
Speaker 1: Well, here's what I like it. And here's what I
Speaker 1: like about. One of the things I like about Market
Speaker 1: Basket a lot of the other grocery chains. Uh, they said,
Speaker 1: get your loyalty card. Okay, And so you've filled out
Speaker 1: a form and you've got a loyalty card and you
Speaker 1: put it on your key chain. I'm sure you've done
Speaker 1: that with some groceries, right right. Okay. Then they it
Speaker 1: wasn't enough to have a grocery a card, a loyalty card.
Speaker 1: Then they said you got to download the app. So yeah,
Speaker 1: you download the app, which is impossible to navigate. Okay.
Speaker 1: So now you go through the store and you realize, oh,
Speaker 1: I can get it that that's on sale, but with
Speaker 1: the digital coupon. But I kind of get the digital
Speaker 1: coupon because the app is so confusing. It just leads,
Speaker 1: it leads you in circles. So what they have done
Speaker 1: is a lot of these stores and they're not listening
Speaker 1: to me. And if they were giving them million dollars. Advice,
Speaker 1: get rid of the loyalty get rid of the apps.
Speaker 1: Stick with the loyalty card. So if if if a
Speaker 1: customer is willing to carry your stupid plastic card around
Speaker 1: on their keychain, that will make them more like and
Speaker 1: you give them a little bit of a break every
Speaker 1: time they go to the store. You're going to have
Speaker 1: them coming in the store frequently. You don't need to
Speaker 1: to make them go to an app to figure out
Speaker 1: what's on sale this week and what they use. And
Speaker 1: you got to you've got to go through if you're
Speaker 1: lucky enough to get to it, you got to go
Speaker 1: through one hundred and seventy five different items, ninety five
Speaker 1: percent of which you've never bought in your life.
Speaker 4: And it's and it's and it's funny you mentioned that.
Speaker 4: And I'll make this quick because I know there's other
Speaker 4: folks that want to call, they want to speak with you.
Speaker 4: But I had a conversation and again, you know that
Speaker 4: we've got wonderful employees at the stopping shop that's closing
Speaker 4: on Montella Street in Brockton, and my hot breaks for them,
Speaker 4: especially the ones that live close by that they can
Speaker 4: walk to the store. And now right now now they
Speaker 4: have to depend on traveling. I spoke to a gentleman
Speaker 4: who used to work. They used to have a store
Speaker 4: in Holbrook and then they closed Holbork and then they
Speaker 4: were opening Brockton. And I talked to this gentleman.
Speaker 1: I said, I.
Speaker 4: Remember you from Holbrook. Now you're in Brockden and he
Speaker 4: and we're talking about the digital coupons, and he he
Speaker 4: just rolled his eyes and he said, he goes, why
Speaker 4: don't they just he goes, coupons, get rid of them
Speaker 4: because there's more, Like you said, there's more problems even
Speaker 4: if you downloaded. Yeah, I had, I had, but the
Speaker 4: people there were so nice at Stop and Shop that
Speaker 4: they would say, oh, I can give you the adjustment.
Speaker 4: I'll give you the sale price, you've got the coup
Speaker 4: you've got the receipt. So but again I I do.
Speaker 4: I do like market Basket. I like all the because
Speaker 4: market Basket and all the and brock in Are you know,
Speaker 4: they're in the same Westgate mall, so it's very convenient.
Speaker 4: But but market Basket, you know, that's that's that's going
Speaker 4: to be my store.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I wish there was one. I'm you know,
Speaker 1: out of pocket during the summertime, so I don't have
Speaker 1: one really near me. But during the rest of the year,
Speaker 1: I will drive to walk to the store and Wallfan,
Speaker 1: which is about fifteen miles from where I live. Uh
Speaker 1: you know, maybe maybe once every two weeks, and I
Speaker 1: will load up on a lot of items that I
Speaker 1: know I can get with substantial savings at at market Basket.
Speaker 1: So that's that's my store. And I just wish that
Speaker 1: someone from Shaw's uh in Star would listen to my advice,
Speaker 1: which is have loyalty cards, but forget the stupid digital
Speaker 1: app and the coupons and the QR codes because a
Speaker 1: big majority of your customers have no idea what's what
Speaker 1: to do with them? Okay, and you're driving people away,
Speaker 1: but that's you know. They're they're owned by a big
Speaker 1: groceries chain called Albertson out of somewhere in the Great Northwest.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if it's the state of Washington or Idaho,
Speaker 1: but they have no clue what's going on here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4: Maureen, is all I agree with you.
Speaker 1: You don't need to have a loyalty cad Tonight's that.
Speaker 1: But you're one of my most loyal listeners, and I
Speaker 1: can't tell you much.
Speaker 4: I appreciate you well, thank you so much. I appreciate listening.
Speaker 4: And I'm going to let the next person go on.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Have a great night.
Speaker 1: Dan, thanks Marian. Okay, well we'll get to the next person.
Speaker 1: But after the news at the bottom of the arts.
Speaker 1: Now ten thirty two, six one seven two. Those lines
Speaker 1: are now awful. However, there's two lines open at six seven.
Speaker 1: I think it's great. We've talked about Market Basket and
Speaker 1: some of the other stores. I'm trying to help Shaws
Speaker 1: in Star but they they don't they don't get it.
Speaker 1: They don't get it. And if you're a big fan
Speaker 1: of Shaws or Star Market, feel free to join the conversation.
Speaker 1: If you're a big fan of any of the other stores,
Speaker 1: I think market Basket, at least with my audience, is
Speaker 1: the leader of the pack. Back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 2: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1: All right, let's keep rolling here, all of us. A
Speaker 1: couple of folks dropped off. We're talking about your grocery
Speaker 1: store shopping. Obviously, with inflation as high as it is,
Speaker 1: there's nowhere where inflation is more obvious than inside a
Speaker 1: grocery store these days, because items that a year ago
Speaker 1: were are now three seventy nine and you think to yourself, well,
Speaker 1: you know it's only eighty cents more. Well, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a that's a twenty five percent increase. Or
Speaker 1: items that were two point fifty now are three eightyen
Speaker 1: I mean it, just it you. If you shop in
Speaker 1: any grocery store, any grocery store, you're going to feel
Speaker 1: the bite of inflation. Let's go to joe In Lynn. Joe,
Speaker 1: you are next on Nightside.
Speaker 8: Thanks Dan for taking my call. This is an unusual
Speaker 8: show and I like it tonight especially. My favorite store
Speaker 8: is Market Basket is you know, I can't see and
Speaker 8: they helped me out. I don't know whether you have
Speaker 8: a cafe in Waltham or not, but I sit there
Speaker 8: and get ice coffee and I do shopping with them.
Speaker 8: They help me bag. I'm not as good as you.
Speaker 8: You have to give us some bagging lessons. But one
Speaker 8: thing I want to say with the Market Basket people,
Speaker 8: I left a toilet paper at the store by accident,
Speaker 8: and they brought it to me and I complimented them,
Speaker 8: and the CEO and I guess you've read the book
Speaker 8: about market Basket called me and sang to me, and
Speaker 8: you don't get many calls from CEOs because I've read
Speaker 8: the book. It's a horrible what he went through was
Speaker 8: his family, mister Dumuz and he called me and sang.
Speaker 1: Really was was that relatively recently.
Speaker 2: Last year or the year before?
Speaker 1: But that's what all I'm saying is he survived again.
Speaker 1: There was this whole corporate board of director's fight which
Speaker 1: which he ended up getting tossed out on his ear.
Speaker 8: And he he eventually bar his cousin out. But their
Speaker 8: their enemies, that they're hatred in the family and the shop.
Speaker 1: And show what I was trying to say, Joe, let
Speaker 1: me finish if I could. What I was trying to
Speaker 1: say was that he was the top dog, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden his cousin, who was also on the board,
Speaker 1: was able to convince some other board members. So it
Speaker 1: was like this, there was an inter family squabble and
Speaker 1: it was a board takeover. So Arthur T, the guy
Speaker 1: who eventually prevailed, prevailed. He got, you know, shown the door,
Speaker 1: shown the door, which is why all the employees walked out,
Speaker 1: and then the customer stayed away, and eventually, after six weeks,
Speaker 1: the cousin who had won had to basically, you know,
Speaker 1: give it up. An amazing story, an amazing.
Speaker 8: Sir Arthur T bought him out and I read the book.
Speaker 2: It's horrible.
Speaker 8: There's hatred of the family now, but that's the way
Speaker 8: it is like in my family. But mister T was
Speaker 8: very nice. I hope to meet him someday. He comes
Speaker 8: to different stories.
Speaker 2: You got to give us a.
Speaker 8: Bag lesson and tell me does your one in Waltham
Speaker 8: have a nice cafe with a TV?
Speaker 1: I was going to respond, I was going to respond
Speaker 1: to that. I have seen it. I've never been in it.
Speaker 1: It looks it doesn't look what you call to be luxurious.
Speaker 1: But there's a coffee stand and you can buy you know,
Speaker 1: some some sort of a muffin or some sort of
Speaker 1: a breakfast item. I think it's ninety nine cents. So
Speaker 1: it's very convenient and it's not all that expensive. And
Speaker 1: so people if they want to spend twenty minutes and
Speaker 1: have a cup of coffee and the muffin of some sort,
Speaker 1: they get their day going. It would be wonderful. Joe
Speaker 1: the one time Lin and be able to do that
Speaker 1: on an occasional basis.
Speaker 8: One quickie. The one in Linn has a kitchen. You
Speaker 8: can have meatloaw, salad, pizza, hamburgers. It's a little bigger,
Speaker 8: but they're very nice people there.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Joe will talk one brief.
Speaker 8: I only had trouble once I could someone couldn't speaking
Speaker 8: as they got someone else for me.
Speaker 2: But they're extremely nice.
Speaker 8: Thanks, take care, Thanks.
Speaker 1: Joe, talk to you by body. All right, let's keep rolling.
Speaker 1: You're going to go to Rick and Bill, Rick and Heyrick.
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
Speaker 6: How yeah, Dan, how are you? This is a subject
Speaker 6: that doesn't grind my gears like Tamala, you know what
Speaker 6: I'm saying. But yeah, no, yeah, seriously, I grew up
Speaker 6: going to Demula's as a kid. I grew up in Burlington.
Speaker 6: A family of my parents are gone now, but there
Speaker 6: was there's there's still six of us left. There's a
Speaker 6: total of eight. Yeah, and that's my dad headed there.
Speaker 6: I remember going in the seventies to Demula's. I am
Speaker 6: seven hundred Plaza and I live close to there now.
Speaker 6: But it's still good. You know, it's going to be
Speaker 6: the best prices around with inflation. Obviously, meat has gone
Speaker 6: up at the tea. Can't do can't roll up. You know,
Speaker 6: he can only do the best he can. But they
Speaker 6: try to keep their prices low. And I just wanted
Speaker 6: to say that I boycotted in twenty fourteen. I would
Speaker 6: go in the store just to take pictures of the shelves,
Speaker 6: just to get a little document. You know, I've got it,
Speaker 6: probably a half a dozen of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's okay. And look, it's so great when there
Speaker 1: is what people perceive to be an injustice and they
Speaker 1: gather and they form a bond and they stick together
Speaker 1: and they get a result that they wanted, which was
Speaker 1: to get one man, Arthur t back in charge. He
Speaker 1: stayed there and he apparently has brought the store out
Speaker 1: of some really bad financial straits, which is going to
Speaker 1: happen to a growth free store when and when it's
Speaker 1: not operational for six weeks. I think it's an inspiring story.
Speaker 1: Did you listen to the Harvard of the MIT Business
Speaker 1: School professor we had on last hour?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Oh no, no, it was fantastic. Uh your interview
Speaker 6: with him, and uh, you know it's he I'm not
Speaker 6: surprised that it's a big case study. I will tell
Speaker 6: you that it's I was moved by by the loyalty
Speaker 6: back then, and I was moved myself, and so I
Speaker 6: would I would go to Shaws.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 6: I used to work at Shaws in Burlington a couple
Speaker 6: of years two thousand and four to two thousand and six.
Speaker 6: Albertson's bought them in probably oh five or possibly oh six,
Speaker 6: it's one of one of those years. But but uh,
Speaker 6: yeah's an enormous company. And they never had the prices
Speaker 6: as good as as market basket good stuff at Shaws,
Speaker 6: but you're paying way more. But I had to bite
Speaker 6: the bullet because I got a principle. Yeah you know,
Speaker 6: I don't can't. I just had to do it.
Speaker 1: And it was so The thing that bothers me about
Speaker 1: Shaws and I have shopped in Shaws and Star Market
Speaker 1: is not only well do you have to have like
Speaker 1: your loyalty card or whatever, but now they make you
Speaker 1: download an app and you will see if you are
Speaker 1: able to download the app successfully and navigate around this app,
Speaker 1: which is impossible to utilize, then you can get items
Speaker 1: at a reduced rate. It is insane. It is insane
Speaker 1: if you want to treat your customers that way, that
Speaker 1: they have to go through some sort of your gymnastics,
Speaker 1: mental gymnastics to get a fifty cent break on an item.
Speaker 1: You're just going to drive customers away. It's as simple
Speaker 1: as that. And exactly, I go into grocery stores all
Speaker 1: the time, and the fact of the matter is that
Speaker 1: most people in grocery stores are people who are older,
Speaker 1: people who are shopping for themselves, shopping for their families.
Speaker 1: I don't see many twenty somethings pushing a grocery CA card.
Speaker 1: They're they're all ordering, you know, online, or they're having
Speaker 1: an uber driver pick up there. That's fine for them,
Speaker 1: But Shaw's and Starr owned now by Albertson, will eventually
Speaker 1: put themselves out of business if they don't smart enough.
Speaker 6: I think you're right, No, I do think. And those
Speaker 6: stupid little car gets stick on your keychain as there
Speaker 6: was a car, do you put one on your keychain
Speaker 6: that was fullish? Anyway? Market Baskets stayed clear of that.
Speaker 6: They never did that.
Speaker 1: And well, the better no, the better solution is no card.
Speaker 1: Just get the best prices you can to every customer.
Speaker 1: That's number one. But if you're going to do a
Speaker 1: card and say and try to make incent people to
Speaker 1: come back to the store because they think they're getting
Speaker 1: a little bit of an additional break. That's fine, But
Speaker 1: when you incorporate the idea of some sort of an
Speaker 1: app that you have to pull down from the internet,
Speaker 1: and then you have to figure out a way to
Speaker 1: to to navigate the app, and they keep changing the
Speaker 1: app every two or three weeks, it is mind boggling.
Speaker 1: It is frustrating, and it is it makes you dislike
Speaker 1: the store. You no longer feel neutral about it, you
Speaker 1: feel positive towards to It's a store like Demulas, which
Speaker 1: is giving the best prices they can under the circumstances.
Speaker 1: And now in order to even try to replicate come
Speaker 1: close to market Basket, you've got to download an app
Speaker 1: and figure the app out, and they're going to change
Speaker 1: the app every two or three weeks. It's like they're
Speaker 1: playing a game of cat and mouse with you, and
Speaker 1: you're the mouse and the other cat.
Speaker 6: Right. No, it's punishment, like the extra four percent over
Speaker 6: every million you make. I mean, that's a bigger issue,
Speaker 6: but not really when you're talking middle class and fixed incomes,
Speaker 6: but it is, you know, it's more money, but that's ridiculous.
Speaker 6: You know it should be the same. Five percent is
Speaker 6: going to add up when you get into the millions.
Speaker 6: I just wanted to say one thing before you go
Speaker 6: that I was very impressive during COVID lockdown. Those young
Speaker 6: kids were amazing. It's almost like their military service. I
Speaker 6: don't mean because you're a veteran and I appreciate your service,
Speaker 6: but those young kids, they had to wear masks, people
Speaker 6: holding toilet paper. At that time, you know that'd taken
Speaker 6: too much. They had to put limits on. You remember
Speaker 6: it all. It was a few years ago, but those
Speaker 6: kids worked so hard. I felt bad from Ice talked
Speaker 6: to me, I've been on. They'd be like, I've been
Speaker 6: on eight hours now and young kids, and I'm just
Speaker 6: saying it. I was impressed. I totally I was impressed
Speaker 6: at the time.
Speaker 1: All right, Rick Is always appreciate your calls.
Speaker 6: We'll talk soon day, you bet.
Speaker 1: Thanks quick break. We got three to we'll probably wrap
Speaker 1: it up, and I think we're going to go to
Speaker 1: our last topic of the night, which will be if
Speaker 1: you had a chance to ask Vice President Harris a
Speaker 1: question about her presidential candidacy. What would it be that's
Speaker 1: going to be after eleven don't call on that. Now
Speaker 1: we got Geene and Rockland, Brad and Marlborough and Barry
Speaker 1: in Norwell coming up on the other side of the
Speaker 1: break here on Nightside.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan ray Mine from the window World
Speaker 2: Nightside Studios.
Speaker 1: On w b Z the News. Sorry we were going next.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Gene in Rockland. Gene, welcome back to
Speaker 1: night How are you, Jane.
Speaker 9: I am very good.
Speaker 7: Dan.
Speaker 9: I am so glad that you have talked about this.
Speaker 2: I have been.
Speaker 9: Waiting a long time for somebody to bring this up
Speaker 9: about their lousy app in Shaws, and not only in Shaws,
Speaker 9: but a few other supermarkets too that have trailed behind Shaws.
Speaker 9: I've called your phone many times on other issues, but
Speaker 9: this one is really you really hit it on this one.
Speaker 9: I'm going to tell you that is the worst app
Speaker 9: that they could do at Shaws. It's cost them a
Speaker 9: lot of business. They don't know it. And I can
Speaker 9: remember when Big White opened in Norwell and they had
Speaker 9: you sit down and fill out a cod and everything.
Speaker 9: Guess what they're doing the same thing. You know, everybody's
Speaker 9: following this pace and they don't realize how much money
Speaker 9: they're costing themselves. You're talking to somebody that has twenty
Speaker 9: two years in retail with one company in twenty eight
Speaker 9: years with retail in another company. So I know what
Speaker 9: I'm talking about, and I'm going to tell you a
Speaker 9: few other things that are going to kill them too.
Speaker 9: You take Walmart and you have all those people standing
Speaker 9: in line. They have no registers open, and everybody's going
Speaker 9: through and scan it. And I can't even tell you
Speaker 9: the theft that's going on there. I see it with
Speaker 9: my own two wives, and I'm like, I can't believe it.
Speaker 9: So I so appreciate you bringing this up and market
Speaker 9: basket they open one up and hear and over. I'm
Speaker 9: in there twice a week. I listen to you on
Speaker 9: my way down when I go grocery shop, and I
Speaker 9: hit there around eight thirty. I'm telling you, that's the greatest,
Speaker 9: the greatest steward that you can imagine. I see the
Speaker 9: kids there, and when you're in retail, you notice things,
Speaker 9: and the people there are unbelievable and the store is immaculate.
Speaker 9: I can't say that for other retailers. You know, it's
Speaker 9: just really sad.
Speaker 4: That I'm in this period.
Speaker 9: Of the country and they do things and all of
Speaker 9: a sudden. You know, here for a year and a half,
Speaker 9: the prices go way up. They don't have restrooms. Different
Speaker 9: things like that. You should do a show on how
Speaker 9: bad we have, how some retailers and how bad they are,
Speaker 9: because we have a few in our local areas, in
Speaker 9: good sized ones too. And I went in one and
Speaker 9: they don't even have restrooms, have been broken down for
Speaker 9: a year and a half and it's in a well
Speaker 9: known plaza. Okay, so it's really all right.
Speaker 1: You may have given me another idea, so you keep listening, Gena.
Speaker 9: Next, do another show on how bad they are some
Speaker 9: of these retailers and they're coming in and they're making
Speaker 9: oodles of money and then they say see you later.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, thank you very much. Jean. Let
Speaker 1: me go next to Barry in Norwell. Barry, we're down
Speaker 1: on the south shore a lot tonight.
Speaker 10: How are you.
Speaker 1: I'm doing great?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I'm the bookstore guy. But before I owe a
Speaker 10: books shre, I worked in market Basket.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, bore the bookstore guy in Newton who I
Speaker 1: still haven't gone to visit yet, but I will.
Speaker 10: Cover the uh. The reason why I worked there was
Speaker 10: all during COVID. UH we waited and waited for it
Speaker 10: to open, and they partially built it and finally when
Speaker 10: it was winding down there, uh, it wasn't opening, and
Speaker 10: they were saying people said, Oh, it's because they can't
Speaker 10: find enough people. Says, I'll go down there and work myself.
Speaker 10: I walked in, I got a job. We wanted to
Speaker 10: work to open because, Uh, I don't want to say
Speaker 10: anything bad about Shaws. These are the nice people, but
Speaker 10: there were problems there and so we were anxious this board.
Speaker 10: We wanted a new store. So I walked in and
Speaker 10: got a job in the meat department one day. And
Speaker 10: the people worked there, Yeah, really fun, really nice people.
Speaker 10: And the meat they have prime rib and everything prime.
Speaker 1: And what what town are you talking about now, nor
Speaker 1: Nover Hanover? Okay, that's close to know all right?
Speaker 10: When that opened?
Speaker 1: Uh was that a period of time when the closed
Speaker 1: that while you were no.
Speaker 10: I created the bookstore while I was working at markets.
Speaker 1: Okay, you that was your side hustle. Now's your full time.
Speaker 10: Yes, that's right. And Uh, the story I wanted to
Speaker 10: tell is when we first got there, when I first
Speaker 10: worked there, the CEO came by to tour it and
Speaker 10: he had his entourage and he went from station to station.
Speaker 10: He came to the meat department and he shook my
Speaker 10: hand and he asked me what I did before. I said,
Speaker 10: I drove a cab in Boston, and uh. He was
Speaker 10: very you know, geice and uh. Then he came back
Speaker 10: several weeks, maybe a month later again for a tour,
Speaker 10: and he came by and he remembered who I was.
Speaker 10: He's a story like a like a seasoned politician, very
Speaker 10: warm feeling you get when somebody remembers you like that. Yeah,
Speaker 10: So I just wanted to say the camaraderie there I
Speaker 10: think started as a top a feeling of it.
Speaker 1: Has it has to Yeah, And he said, if you
Speaker 1: are the CEO of some company, you set the example
Speaker 1: of how you carry yourself, your demeanor. Do you look
Speaker 1: through people, do you look past people? Or do you
Speaker 1: look at people and engage with them and ask them,
Speaker 1: what's your name? My name is Arthur T or whatever
Speaker 1: that person's name is. You put them on the same
Speaker 1: level as you. They're working for the same company. You're
Speaker 1: making a heck of a lot money, much more money
Speaker 1: than they make.
Speaker 10: But and but, like you said, the simplicity of it,
Speaker 10: you know, stupid apps or cupidon. Just pay it and
Speaker 10: then you don't have to buy four cases of coke
Speaker 10: to get a six pack.
Speaker 1: Or you know, well that's the other thing now particularly
Speaker 1: uh if you buy your five cases, you'll get five free.
Speaker 1: Who buys five cases? Who buys four cases? Ef you're
Speaker 1: going to do that? Yeah, fill up your refrigerator and
Speaker 1: everybody can drink orange juice until it goes bad. Hey,
Speaker 1: Barry is a close early.
Speaker 10: I liked it when I worked there, but not now
Speaker 10: I work late.
Speaker 11: I wish it was.
Speaker 10: Like records of books.
Speaker 1: Tweet I will, I will, I promise that I'll be
Speaker 1: there doing Brad and Marlborough. Brad, you were next to.
Speaker 3: Night side Dan.
Speaker 11: How you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm doing fine tonight, Brad. What's going? What's on your mind?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 11: I just want to share my personal experience. Uh as
Speaker 11: gen z Uh, I'm pretty savvy with the technology and
Speaker 11: the apps that they got these days. And when we
Speaker 11: were on maternity leave last year when my daughter was born,
Speaker 11: we had to use the instacart to order groceries. The
Speaker 11: first couple of weeks we got home from the hospital
Speaker 11: and we actually ended up getting something from Shaw's probably
Speaker 11: about a week's worth of grocer trees. And when it
Speaker 11: got to our house I got to live in, and
Speaker 11: it was from Shaws and the chicken was two weeks old.
Speaker 11: Tho it was past two.
Speaker 1: Oh that's why I never have done that I and
Speaker 1: I never will. My daughter does some things like that.
Speaker 1: But I like to go and pick out my vegetables,
Speaker 1: pick out my fruit, make sure that that they're not spoiled.
Speaker 1: And oh, that's a that's a horrible story. How old
Speaker 1: your daughter, Barry Brad.
Speaker 11: Excuse Yeah, she's one years old?
Speaker 1: Now, Wow, so you're you You said your gen z.
Speaker 1: Is that what you are?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 11: I was born in nineteen ninety seven, which is the
Speaker 11: first year at gen Z.
Speaker 1: Wow, you're a young So you're a dad at twenty
Speaker 1: seven years of age.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations. What's your daughter's first name? Will give her
Speaker 1: a big shout out here all over the country.
Speaker 11: Yeah, her name is Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Charlotte. Well, Charlotte's going to be a beauty. I'm sure
Speaker 1: she is a beautiful child. And you're gonna have so
Speaker 1: much fun with Charlotte. Uh and uh, eventually you'll you'll, you'll, you'll,
Speaker 1: you'll say to her, any guy you're going to date,
Speaker 1: you got to bring him home first and meet me.
Speaker 1: I can just see that happen.
Speaker 3: And Okay, you got that right.
Speaker 1: Hey, Brat, thanks man. I so appreciate you all. And
Speaker 1: uh again, congratulations to you and your wife on Charlotte.
Speaker 11: Hey, uh, I don't mind answering your next question too,
Speaker 11: if you've still got a couple of seconds there.
Speaker 1: Okay, sure, what question would you want to ask the
Speaker 1: vice president if you had a chance to Yes.
Speaker 11: So, if I got a chance to ask the Vice
Speaker 11: president of question, I'd ask her what gave her the
Speaker 11: right as Attorney General of California to send people inmates
Speaker 11: who are convicted of mind their possession charges of marijuana
Speaker 11: to the front lines of the forest fires to be
Speaker 11: condemned to death.
Speaker 1: That's a great question. That's a great question. We won't
Speaker 1: be interviewing her here on nightside, but uh, that starts
Speaker 1: us off for the next hour. Brad, I love the question.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. I forgot that one, actually, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much.
Speaker 11: Thank you, Dan.
Speaker 1: Talk to you soon, all right, Brian and East Boston.
Speaker 1: You stay there, we'll take you on the other side.
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna I love this topic, but I
Speaker 1: think we're going to switch to our other topic, which
Speaker 1: is and by the way, vice President had her first
Speaker 1: interview and it was softball, after softball, after softball, So
Speaker 1: I want to I want to make the questions a
Speaker 1: little tougher. What would you ask the Vice president if
Speaker 1: you had been in Dana Bash's shoes tonight softball after softball,
Speaker 1: after softball, as far as I could see back on nightside,
Speaker 1: right after the eleven