Speaker 1: It's NIC's eye Ray, I'm going easy Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Brothers and sisters fight. That's what happens. Brothers and sisters fight.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it involves one point six billion dollar companies. Sometimes
Speaker 2: it involves thirty thousand employees with their jobs potentially on
Speaker 2: the line. Rob, did we have that report by any chance?
Speaker 2: All right, what we're gonna do right now is we'll
Speaker 2: set up the show. Obviously, we're gonna start with Market Basket.
Speaker 2: Gary Tag wereing for Dan Ray tonight. We're gonna roll
Speaker 2: a report here from WBC and Kyle Bray and get
Speaker 2: you up to Dan and what's happening. Let's rull.
Speaker 3: Shoppers at the Market Basket in Gloucester are shocked to
Speaker 3: hear that Market Basket has placed CEO Arthur T. Dobulis
Speaker 3: on paid leave.
Speaker 4: He's done a great job with the store.
Speaker 5: I hope it does and change.
Speaker 4: Who're lucky to have a store like this around here
Speaker 4: in Kpe. Ann He's been a great person to work for,
Speaker 4: according to people who I know, And.
Speaker 2: So yeah, this does.
Speaker 4: Consume me very much. Took care of his employees. One
Speaker 4: particular in one store I know, had cancer. He went
Speaker 4: out for a year. Already paid his salary, and he
Speaker 4: paid his health benefits in his job was SAE when
Speaker 4: he got back, so that speaks.
Speaker 2: For Artie Back.
Speaker 3: In twenty fourteen, market Back and workers went on strike
Speaker 3: across the region when the board fired to Bullis. Tensions
Speaker 3: between the Board and do Bullis are once again high
Speaker 3: as they clash over basic oversight from Gloucester Kyle bra
Speaker 3: AWBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is right out of network television from
Speaker 2: the eighties. You know, this is like Dallas Falcon crashed,
Speaker 2: all those TV dramas. Dynasty families want control. It's as
Speaker 2: simple as this, folks. The sisters want already t out
Speaker 2: because he wants to give it to his kids. That's
Speaker 2: what this is about. Wow, the problem is you're talking
Speaker 2: about thirty thousand jobs that are on the line. Now
Speaker 2: I have to tell you and open phones here. I
Speaker 2: want to know what you think about this whole situation
Speaker 2: and why does market basket mean so much to this
Speaker 2: state six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. I
Speaker 2: find the whole market basket phenomenon very interesting because it
Speaker 2: is a dying breed. It just doesn't happen anymore. Whole Foods.
Speaker 2: They're owned by Amazon. They were started here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: Remember it was Brett and Circus and it became Home Foods,
Speaker 2: and yeah, you get the idea. Jordan's Furniture, love, Jordan's Furniture,
Speaker 2: Barry and Elliott. Awesome. I don't begrudge anybody for selling out.
Speaker 2: They made a deal with Warren Buffett. Good for them,
Speaker 2: Demulins who stayed local and they've stayed strong. And I
Speaker 2: will tell you I am an outsider here. I am
Speaker 2: an outsider. And in twenty four because I've come from
Speaker 2: the great state of Maine. We did not have demulus
Speaker 2: in Maine at the time that I grew up, especially
Speaker 2: in Rumford, Man. It was saved more sav hyphen mr.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why nobody in my town could spell that's
Speaker 2: what it was. And even Ralph's Market, Ralph's Market with
Speaker 2: Missus Lloyd running the cash register, one cashier and everybody
Speaker 2: knew or Missus Lloyd who started Kathy married my friend
Speaker 2: David's brother Timmy. Well, you know, it's a small town.
Speaker 2: It was one of those things where you could go
Speaker 2: into Ralph's Market and you could literally say, Ralph, I'm
Speaker 2: going to pay for this pound of Hamburg when I
Speaker 2: get paid on Friday. I mean, that's the way it was.
Speaker 2: But Demoulah's when I first moved to the I moved
Speaker 2: to the sea coast of New Hampshire and I went
Speaker 2: into the Demulh's, and this was in the nineties. I
Speaker 2: wasn't really impressed. It was Seabrook, New Hampshire, and it
Speaker 2: doesn't take much to impress her. I really wasn't impressed.
Speaker 2: I was like, ah, man, hey, it's no save more,
Speaker 2: or if you wanted to pronounce it fanatically, savemore, savemore.
Speaker 2: But then, like many of the grocery store chains, it's
Speaker 2: stepped up its game to a point right now where
Speaker 2: in Maynard, Massachusetts, which is close to where I live,
Speaker 2: the place is jammed packed. I can go in there
Speaker 2: and I see everybody I know, see my eye doctor
Speaker 2: in there. Because look, times are crazy, times are hard,
Speaker 2: jobs are scarce. We know that we have no idea
Speaker 2: what's going on in Washington. We have no idea what's
Speaker 2: going to be cut next, We have no idea. There's
Speaker 2: a lot of uncertainty. But from many people in this
Speaker 2: community or this state, from what I gather, I'm not
Speaker 2: one of them. I don't relate to it. Market basket
Speaker 2: is a certainty. De Mulla's market basket still means something
Speaker 2: to this area, which I find fascinating because really, when
Speaker 2: it comes to brand awareness or brand loyalty, you know,
Speaker 2: it comes down to price and convenience. Now I understand
Speaker 2: what the mouse. Obviously price is important, that's what they do.
Speaker 2: But they've stepped up of their game as well where
Speaker 2: they have prepared foods and so forth. Because if you
Speaker 2: have two parents working, everybody needs convenience and they've done that.
Speaker 2: But they've done that at a price where people can
Speaker 2: afford it. And I'm sure the concern is if some
Speaker 2: outside company comes in and buys Themuluse, that that's all
Speaker 2: going to change. Also, you can't tell me if you
Speaker 2: have ninety stores and you have thirty thousand employees, if
Speaker 2: somebody comes in and buys that outfit, they're gonna cut
Speaker 2: that in half to fifteen thousand, no doubt, There's no doubt.
Speaker 2: And this is all as far as I'm concerned. What
Speaker 2: I can see is the three sisters don't like what
Speaker 2: the brother's doing because they don't want the company to
Speaker 2: go to his kids. Doesn't everybody have enough money I mean, really,
Speaker 2: isn't that it? Can't you negotiate it? You bought out
Speaker 2: the senior Arthur before Arthur T. Why can't you do
Speaker 2: it again now? From what I understand, the report is
Speaker 2: that he was planning a work stoppage again because he
Speaker 2: wanted to fend off a hostile corporal takeover by the
Speaker 2: Three Sisters. What was that house like growing up? Can
Speaker 2: you imagine that? But at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: you still have thirty thousand jobs of people in New
Speaker 2: England that are on the line, and in the past
Speaker 2: with the moves, at least with Arthur T on the surface,
Speaker 2: that has been the mission. He takes care of his people.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it in twenty fourteen when they tried
Speaker 2: to take the company from him and they all walked out.
Speaker 2: Think about that, they all walked out. That's crazy. That
Speaker 2: says something about the man. I mean again, I don't
Speaker 2: have a horse in the race. You guys tell me
Speaker 2: at six, one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty, whether
Speaker 2: you work there, whether you shop there, whether you grew
Speaker 2: up going there, it's part of the community. I mean
Speaker 2: Star Market. Remember I remember watching Red Sox games in
Speaker 2: Maine and I would always Star Market sweepstakes. I mean
Speaker 2: that was Mugo, right, I mean he sold out eventually?
Speaker 2: Did that become Shaws or super stop and shop or whatever?
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't. I mean HELI who knows? Probably
Speaker 2: Walmart owns that.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I have no idea, and I don't begrudge that. But
Speaker 2: this is a local institution in Demulah's where it means
Speaker 2: something to some people. And if the sisters get a
Speaker 2: hold of it, I mean see a later. I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, and they want their money. It's it's really
Speaker 2: not that much different than the Celtics. And you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make that comparison. I'm gonna take your calls
Speaker 2: right after this. We're talking to Mullahs. It's a family feud.
Speaker 2: It's a made for tea. The story dun't dunt dunt
Speaker 2: dun dun Right here on wbz's Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Speaker 1: Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Who shot j R? Family Intrigue, Bobby j Are you
Speaker 2: and Sue Ellen? The market the moves have to get
Speaker 2: their own theme song. That's what they have to do.
Speaker 2: Family in fighting is great intrigue. That's back when Network
Speaker 2: TV was king. So now they're who shot Jr. They're
Speaker 2: trying to oust Arthur t and well they've done it.
Speaker 2: And basically with market Basket, you have three sisters that
Speaker 2: want the brother out because the brother wants to give
Speaker 2: the company to his two kids. They're saying, you can't
Speaker 2: give it to my niece and nephew. What about us?
Speaker 2: It's what what about us? You brought the company back.
Speaker 2: Everybody seems to love you in the company. They had
Speaker 2: a one point six billion dollar deficit that they had
Speaker 2: to pay off in twenty fourteen when he was brought
Speaker 2: back into the company and they bought it. They've done it,
Speaker 2: according to the reports, like Arthur Tiers has run this company.
Speaker 2: So they paid off the one point six billion dollar
Speaker 2: debt and now they're running with a profit. What the
Speaker 2: ELL's wrong with that? This is speculation, speculation. There's no
Speaker 2: doubt in my mind, somebody's knocking on that door man Walmart, Amazon,
Speaker 2: somebody wants to buy him for a lot of money,
Speaker 2: just like the Celtics. I mean, it's very similar to
Speaker 2: the Celtics. You know, I know certain people didn't want
Speaker 2: to sell the Celtics, but I mean IRV Grousbeck nine
Speaker 2: years old. He's got three he's got three kids total
Speaker 2: of four. There's a wick and then he's got some
Speaker 2: other shit. Six point one billion dollars. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 4: Kid?
Speaker 2: We're selling the team. We didn't want to sell a team.
Speaker 2: Why would he? Are you kidding me? He's a champion,
Speaker 2: he's been a great owner. But the old man comes in,
Speaker 2: he says, it's all about the money. That's what this is.
Speaker 2: It's always about the money. The sisters want to sell
Speaker 2: it speculation by me to somebody with a lot of cash.
Speaker 6: That's it.
Speaker 2: And it would be a shame, it really would be.
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, I'm not I'm not a mark. I
Speaker 2: didn't grow up going to market basket. I don't have
Speaker 2: any memories of going to market bask Like people I've
Speaker 2: talked to today are like, oh, market basket all the time.
Speaker 2: You know, ninety stores. They paid off a one point
Speaker 2: six billion dollar debt in ten years. This guy, Arthur T,
Speaker 2: as far as I'm concerned, like, I'm sure he's no angel.
Speaker 2: He's probably got skeletons in his closet too. That guy
Speaker 2: knows how to run a business where people walked out
Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen, they actually walked out on his behalf.
Speaker 2: They loved him so much. He comes back. He pays
Speaker 2: off a one point six billion dollar debt in a decade.
Speaker 2: It must be doing something right. All right, let's get
Speaker 2: to Steven Marri Mackahamster. Steve, you're up on wbz's night side.
Speaker 6: Hey, Gary, thanks for taking my call. I was kind
Speaker 6: of shocked to hear the news tonight. It looks like
Speaker 6: history repeats itself, or it may very well happen this summer.
Speaker 6: I know RDT personally. I went to high school with him.
Speaker 6: He's a really nice guy. He's old school. He has
Speaker 6: a lot of people at that company, both in management
Speaker 6: and below that love him. I know because I remember
Speaker 6: twenty fourteen. You know, twenty five thousand people were supporting
Speaker 6: him when we had the boycott. You're absolutely your assessment's
Speaker 6: absolutely correct. It's all about the greed and the money.
Speaker 6: You know, Shaw's and Hanifford's are watching Walmart's watching Shaws
Speaker 6: and Hanniferd's. They only have like a ten and eleven
Speaker 6: percent market Chare market Baskets got a twenty percent market
Speaker 6: share in New England. You know they're they're very envious
Speaker 6: of that situation. So if anything goes sour, you know,
Speaker 6: with respect to the the ownership of this company and
Speaker 6: a possible sale, you know, we're all going to pay more.
Speaker 6: That's what it's going to come down to, because their
Speaker 6: prices aren't even close to the market basket. You know.
Speaker 6: I can only tell you that, you know, he he's
Speaker 6: old school. He runs the company with the idea that
Speaker 6: the employees are the ones you have to count on,
Speaker 6: and those people would do anything for him. I really
Speaker 6: I talked to managers at the stores of here in
Speaker 6: New Hampshire. I don't go down to mass very often,
Speaker 6: but I'm sure it's the same down there too, So
Speaker 6: I all I can say is, you know this is
Speaker 6: not going to turn out well for the Dumulus family,
Speaker 6: the three sisters. I knew that they were involved, but
Speaker 6: I didn't think they would force him out because he
Speaker 6: is His sons were the heir apparent to his position.
Speaker 6: He's the point person of the company. He writes the
Speaker 6: letters that go out with the bonus checks. In December.
Speaker 6: I know because I got to copy the letter from
Speaker 6: one of the employees, well written letter. He said, I
Speaker 6: retired the debt. You know, the one point six billion
Speaker 6: last year. You know that was in the letter that
Speaker 6: went after all the employees. So you know, they're in
Speaker 6: a really good position and it looks like they just
Speaker 6: want to take their money and run, you know, if you.
Speaker 2: Want to, if you want to look at the situation
Speaker 2: right now, with what it is like for the American worker.
Speaker 2: You're constantly looking over your shoulder because of mergers, because
Speaker 2: of what's happening with the tax ramifications with the current president,
Speaker 2: because it's we wish it was people. It's an international economy,
Speaker 2: right see. I mean, it just is. It's the way
Speaker 2: things are done now. I mean you can have something
Speaker 2: that's American made, but parts have to come from China,
Speaker 2: parts have to come from Canada. I mean, they come
Speaker 2: from all over the place. So now people will worried,
Speaker 2: am I going to lose my job because of the tariffs,
Speaker 2: That our prices are going to go up sixty percent
Speaker 2: and our market share is going to go down. I mean,
Speaker 2: it is a very uncertain time. Not to mention with AI.
Speaker 2: AI is replacing everybody. I mean I remember automation. I
Speaker 2: remember in the eighties automation, automation, and we're like, eh,
Speaker 2: look it's here people are losing jobs left and right
Speaker 2: because of automation and also because a fair of the
Speaker 2: international economy. So this is one of those rare companies
Speaker 2: with the demulas where it's like we're making money. Everybody's
Speaker 2: making money. I mean, no one's could playing. People are
Speaker 2: going to the stores, they're buying the products. Everybody's making money.
Speaker 2: Why would you want to screw that up?
Speaker 6: You know why?
Speaker 2: Because I'm telling you, and this is speculation on my part,
Speaker 2: it's somebody in the shadows that's waiving a lot of
Speaker 2: money to the sisters. Speculation. Don't assume me that's gotta
Speaker 2: be that's gotta be it. That's my opinion.
Speaker 6: This whole thing is a political has nothing to do
Speaker 6: with politics. It's all about the money.
Speaker 2: It's all about the money.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 6: You know, I just you go you shop around. I'm
Speaker 6: sure Garry, you know you go into a stopping shop
Speaker 6: down there, or you know, Hannaford's or a Shaws. That
Speaker 6: parking lot is an empty ghost town. You go into
Speaker 6: a market basket parking lot, you know, whether it's around
Speaker 6: here in New Hampshire or down there, it's packed full.
Speaker 2: Steve, I go to the one in Maynard. I go
Speaker 2: to the one in Maynard and I see, I see,
Speaker 2: I see everybody. It's loaded, it's jammed.
Speaker 6: You have to park, you know, you have to park
Speaker 6: way down to get in there. You know, it's like
Speaker 6: and I go to the one in Londonderry, the one
Speaker 6: in Bedford, New Hampshire, and I go to others too,
Speaker 6: but they're always full, and it's it's crazy. But you know,
Speaker 6: the prices are good. He doesn't play games. He goes
Speaker 6: for the best prices. People benefit people that are hurting
Speaker 6: right now. Like you mentioned, you know, we don't need
Speaker 6: to pay more for groceries because we have to shop
Speaker 6: at a higher price outfit. But I am more than
Speaker 6: willing to go through with you know, Boycott two point oh.
Speaker 6: If that's what we need to do to send him
Speaker 6: a message.
Speaker 2: Well here's the prob Yeah, Steve, here's the problem. I
Speaker 2: don't what they did. I went back and I looked
Speaker 2: at the reports and so forth from twenty fourteen. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's amazing, it is amazing. People just said we're out.
Speaker 2: Well we're already. I mean, you just those days are over.
Speaker 2: I don't think people can afford to do that. I
Speaker 2: can't expect if this thing goes the way it seems
Speaker 2: the way it's going, I can't expect thirty thousand of
Speaker 2: people who walk off the job again, this time in
Speaker 2: this climate. That's a hard ass to do it again,
Speaker 2: no matter how loyal they are to rd T. That's
Speaker 2: a hard ask right now in the situation we're in
Speaker 2: where interest rates, Well, we don't know what the president's
Speaker 2: doing with the economy. Don't you think it's hard to
Speaker 2: ask people to walk out.
Speaker 6: There's no one else in his family that's capable of
Speaker 6: taking over outside of his sons.
Speaker 2: Well, they'll sell it, I mean, come on, basically, look again,
Speaker 2: opinion opinion, opinion. They want to sell it. That's what
Speaker 2: I think. They just want to sell it, That's what
Speaker 2: I'm thinking. I mean, you look at it like I
Speaker 2: just look at the Celtics, like IRV Grousebeck. Look, I
Speaker 2: love the grouse They're great, They've done a great job.
Speaker 2: But he's sitting there.
Speaker 6: I paid.
Speaker 2: Let's say they bought the Celtics or three hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty million as a whole. They had various partners on
Speaker 2: ball parking. Maybe the grouse Pecks put in two hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty million or whatever. So he's looking at I
Speaker 2: point in two hundred and eighty million, I can get
Speaker 2: six point one billion for it. I'm ninety. The other
Speaker 2: siblings want to I get it. I totally get it.
Speaker 2: It's a money thing. But as people to get older,
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how old his sisters are.
Speaker 2: He's seventy, and it's gonna go to is, it's going
Speaker 2: to go to the kids. They want to cash out
Speaker 2: and they want to make money for their family. That's it.
Speaker 2: I mean, what a why else? Why else would you
Speaker 2: do that? Let me if you're if you're if you're
Speaker 2: one of the siblings, okay, Sam as sibling, and I
Speaker 2: got RDT running the company that seems to be thriving
Speaker 2: because they're no longer in debt. According to reports, they're
Speaker 2: in the black. They paid off that one point six
Speaker 2: million dollar nutt they paid that. Why would I want
Speaker 2: to become involved? I mean, already just keep sending me
Speaker 2: the checks, just keep sending me the checks. I'm good.
Speaker 6: Nothing's going to change unless they wanted to.
Speaker 2: Change, right, So then so to me, they want to
Speaker 2: sell I mean, and they gotta you know that, that's
Speaker 2: what it's about. And I want to get into that
Speaker 2: because there is an argument for that too, Steve, thank
Speaker 2: you for the phone call. Let's try to cover this
Speaker 2: from both sides. If the majority of the family wants
Speaker 2: to sell the business, that's legit. There's some legitimacy there.
Speaker 2: We will get into that side right after this on
Speaker 2: WBC's Night Side.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: Carry tag for day tonight seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
Speaker 2: It's a family brew. Ha ha, that's what it is.
Speaker 2: Arthur t doesn't want to sell. He's seventy years old.
Speaker 2: His siblings they want out. I mean, and I'm telling
Speaker 2: you there is a buyer on the doorstep against speculation, opinion.
Speaker 2: Don't as sue me. And that's why they want to
Speaker 2: take control of this thing. You could see it. And
Speaker 2: the thing that I'm really impressed by is the loyalty
Speaker 2: to market Basket. I think that Demula's market Basket is
Speaker 2: one of the few things left in a region that
Speaker 2: speaks of a certain time because everything is owned by
Speaker 2: international companies. As I mentioned Jordan's Furniture, which I love,
Speaker 2: great spot there in Natick Love Mom. You know the
Speaker 2: motion ride dot An Avon, Barrion, Elliott, great guys, but
Speaker 2: they sold out. They sold out the Warren, Buffett, Well,
Speaker 2: Whole Foods, Bread and Circus. Boom boom. Nowther're Amazon. It happens.
Speaker 2: It's very hard to stay local. But this is a
Speaker 2: guy already who the employees love, who the employees walked
Speaker 2: out for in twenty fourteen. You never see that, and
Speaker 2: I don't think it could happen today. I don't think
Speaker 2: people can afford to walk out to support their boss.
Speaker 2: That's when they said he was he was planning a
Speaker 2: workstop age. That's the one problem I don't know already.
Speaker 2: I mean, I admire the guy. He knows everybody's name
Speaker 2: they were in. He bought the he he bought the
Speaker 2: place in twenty fourteen for one point six billion, paid
Speaker 2: that off. Now they have ninety stores with a seven
Speaker 2: billion dollars. It's not seven billion dollar revenue, but seven
Speaker 2: billion dollars in sales. That sounds a lot. That sounds
Speaker 2: like a lot to me. That sounds like a lot
Speaker 2: to me. But can a case be made for the
Speaker 2: family members saying, look all right, it's time to sell.
Speaker 2: Let's spread the wealth a little bit. But he took over,
Speaker 2: he rallied the troops. He has made the money. He
Speaker 2: has been the guy in the trenches. And let's face it,
Speaker 2: it's not easy to stay local with Amazon and the
Speaker 2: things you can buy on Amazon now, and with Walmart
Speaker 2: coming in, and Walmart and Target, they've got all these
Speaker 2: superstores where you can buy everything from Kleenex to a
Speaker 2: sweatshirt to you know, Seltzer and eggs. It's really hard
Speaker 2: to maintain your customer's loyalty in this thing, and Age
Speaker 2: and Demula's has done it. They should be studying this
Speaker 2: guy at Harvard Business School. But then maybe Trump will
Speaker 2: get pissed to them. Uh well, all right, let's go
Speaker 2: to Kevin in Newburyport. Kevin, you're up on WBC's night side.
Speaker 5: Hello, ye hey, Gary, how are you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm doing good, Kevin.
Speaker 6: Good.
Speaker 5: Yeah, first time callers.
Speaker 2: So thanks.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've done a little bit of you know, work
Speaker 5: with with supermarkets and stuff. And you make a good
Speaker 5: point about like a Save More. You go in and
Speaker 5: it's it's not the greatest looking store, but it's you know,
Speaker 5: the old old time. Well, if you take the whole Foods,
Speaker 5: the Trader Joe's, the Hannafords, they've got like these beautiful
Speaker 5: displays set up. You take shaws. They got the sprinkler
Speaker 5: systems going in the produce area. Market Basket doesn't have
Speaker 5: any of that. When you go into market Basket, they
Speaker 5: got these big crates on the floor, stack full overflowing
Speaker 5: with ketchup, mustard, tuna, fish, macaroni, and cheese, rice, coffee,
Speaker 5: the things that people need, right and they got them
Speaker 5: for like two for five bucks, right, you know. And
Speaker 5: I worked for We would deliver bread into these supermarkets
Speaker 5: and when we go in, my boss always said, you
Speaker 5: stack them high, you watch it fly. You stack them low,
Speaker 5: and they don't go. And what it is is, if
Speaker 5: you've got a whole stack of bread, people are gonna
Speaker 5: grab it because it's fresh. When he gets down to
Speaker 5: the last thing of hot dog rolls, nobody's gonna buy
Speaker 5: it because it's probably been sitting there. See, you got
Speaker 5: to keep the store stocked. In market Basket, what they
Speaker 5: do is they work on low margins, high volume. And
Speaker 5: this is why they've got the following, you know that
Speaker 5: they have. And when I was away, when when they
Speaker 5: want to strike in twenty fourteen, I was away for
Speaker 5: like a week and I came back and I'm with
Speaker 5: my daughter and I'm pulling in the market Basket and
Speaker 5: she goes, what are you doing that? And I said, well,
Speaker 5: I just got to grab a couple of light bulbs.
Speaker 5: She goes, Dad, they're on strike. I am not going
Speaker 5: in that store because all of our neighbors work there.
Speaker 5: I'm like, you're kidding me, Like, I can't go to
Speaker 5: market Basket. She's like, no, you know. I mean he's
Speaker 5: got a following, he's got a good he's got a
Speaker 5: good thing, and he is killing the other retails because
Speaker 5: it's low margin, high volume.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 2: I also feel that he's been smart enough to update
Speaker 2: it a little bit exactly. You know, when I go
Speaker 2: into the store in Maynard, it's at the first market
Speaker 2: Basket store I went into was nineteen ninety five and
Speaker 2: it's Seabrook, New Hampshire, right yep. And the one in
Speaker 2: maynerd when I go into now it is what you say,
Speaker 2: you know, where the the ketchup is stacked high and
Speaker 2: have the crates and so forth. But they have a deli.
Speaker 2: They have pre made food. Because both parents work, they
Speaker 2: don't have time to cook, so they have adapted to
Speaker 2: the lifestyles. But I agree with you. You know a
Speaker 2: lot of a lot of the times. Even when I
Speaker 2: go into a store and you see all the bells
Speaker 2: and whistles, you go, well, I'm paying for that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm paying I mean even though I've been very fortunate
Speaker 2: and I can afford it, I go, Okay, that's fine,
Speaker 2: but I'm paying for that. You know, do I need
Speaker 2: to pay for that? I mean, that's what Walmart. That's
Speaker 2: why Walmart has done so great right.
Speaker 5: Now, Yeah, when you talk about them upgrading the store.
Speaker 5: So like you take Seabrook. Now, Seabrook has two stores
Speaker 5: because they had the old one that like you were in,
Speaker 5: and then they built a new one a couple, you know,
Speaker 5: like a mile down the road. Right now, out of
Speaker 5: market Basket, ninety stores. About thirty of them are the
Speaker 5: new bigger stores with the delis and prepared food, and
Speaker 5: then sixty of them are kind of the older stores.
Speaker 5: And it doesn't make sense to go in and pay
Speaker 5: the money to upgrade those older stores. They're just going
Speaker 5: to continue to build new stores, right and then those
Speaker 5: old ones eventually go away. But you're right, he's he's
Speaker 5: doing it in a way that his money, conscience makes sense,
Speaker 5: and consumers are behind them.
Speaker 2: They are now. But don't you think, Kevin, it's it's
Speaker 2: very hard to ask his thirty thousand or twenty five
Speaker 2: thousand employees to walk This time. It's a different time.
Speaker 2: There's so much economic uncertainty.
Speaker 5: You know, if they did it before, Gary, they're going
Speaker 5: to do it again.
Speaker 2: Boy, And that's great. Listen, I applaud them. Then that
Speaker 2: just goes That shows the loyalty to the guy. But
Speaker 2: I think it's right now. It's a lot to ask
Speaker 2: because I think it's very scary for people, very I
Speaker 2: mean it is.
Speaker 5: But at the time that they went on strike before
Speaker 5: was scary. Then you know, it's it's scary anytime you
Speaker 5: do it. I mean, I applause them for doing it,
Speaker 5: and I think they're going to do it again even stronger.
Speaker 2: But now we're you know, we're in a situation where
Speaker 2: with economic wars with every country in the world, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, And you're worried about terrorists and all.
Speaker 2: That wasn't in play in twenty fourteen. You know that
Speaker 2: that wasn't the situation.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I listen, if they do it to me, if you
Speaker 2: look at the loyalty that this guy has displayed, and
Speaker 2: the critics will say, well he pays people too much.
Speaker 2: Well that's how you get people to stick around for
Speaker 2: forty years, right, So that's how.
Speaker 6: You do it.
Speaker 5: So here's the thing. I actually I was going to
Speaker 5: lose my job at one point, and I was looking
Speaker 5: at Marcot Basket and I said, you know, this is
Speaker 5: pretty successful change. So I went in and I went
Speaker 5: in to talk to them about getting hired and and
Speaker 5: I said, I'd be interested in doing merchandising, you know,
Speaker 5: for your aisles and you know, doing merchandising. They said, well,
Speaker 5: you need to start as a bagger. Once you're here
Speaker 5: as a bagger, then we'll promote you to like stocking shelves.
Speaker 6: So once you've been.
Speaker 5: Stocking shelves, will promote you to then maybe you know.
Speaker 5: And you look at their tags and it's like I've
Speaker 5: been an employee for fifteen years, I've been an employee
Speaker 5: for thirty years. They have them right on their their aprons.
Speaker 5: You you don't walk into market Basket.
Speaker 7: And start as like, you know, a manager.
Speaker 5: You got to work your way up.
Speaker 2: There's something to be said for that. It's very romantic.
Speaker 2: You know, it's like the good old days. But but
Speaker 2: here's the point, it can still work. I mean, this
Speaker 2: guy's making it work. But in a lot of situations
Speaker 2: you always have and you know this, Kevin, you have
Speaker 2: one person that drives the business, that brings it to
Speaker 2: the A and level, and then when it gets handed
Speaker 2: down or it gets moved on to someone else, it's
Speaker 2: just not the same. Before I let you go, I
Speaker 2: want your opinion. Do the sisters have a point?
Speaker 8: Okay?
Speaker 2: And this is my opinion if you you know, because
Speaker 2: what they're saying is they want to be involved more
Speaker 2: in the day to day operations foods. To me, I
Speaker 2: sniffed that out as saying, again my opinion that they
Speaker 2: want to sell, right, is there an argument that can
Speaker 2: be made? Okay, RDT, it's been a great run, but
Speaker 2: it's time to sell. That's what's best for the family.
Speaker 2: And I lost them.
Speaker 5: Oh no, no, that no, that the you know, it's
Speaker 5: it's not see that that that's because if you say
Speaker 5: that's what's best for the family, that you know depends
Speaker 5: on that family.
Speaker 2: Well, but it's also you got but.
Speaker 5: When you're got thirty thousand people who are trying to
Speaker 5: put food on the table, for their for their family.
Speaker 5: What's what's more important to you? Taking fifteen million dollars
Speaker 5: a piece that you're never gonna be able to spend
Speaker 5: or keeping these people employed. But people don't think that
Speaker 5: way anymore.
Speaker 2: Well, maybe one guy does, all right, keV, thanks buddy,
Speaker 2: appreciate your call. Good stuff, Margot and Gloucester. We're gonna
Speaker 2: get to you next here on WBZ about Demula's market
Speaker 2: basket and the family feud. The family feud. You know,
Speaker 2: it's always the sisters that pick on the brother. You know,
Speaker 2: my oldest sister used to pick on me. You just
Speaker 2: can't win. You're just taking grief from his sister all
Speaker 2: the time. You go, Mom, just tell her to leave
Speaker 2: me alone. Just leave me alone. Just stop trying to
Speaker 2: take over my company. Mom, sissy is trying to take
Speaker 2: over my company again. Mom, tell them to stop it.
Speaker 2: My sisters are buying me. They're trying to take over
Speaker 2: my company. O. We're gonna talk about this and the
Speaker 2: next segment, and then we'll get in and get into
Speaker 2: the Karen Reid deal again. An attorney, Christina Rex's attorney.
Speaker 2: She graduated. She's the real deal. Christina Rex is gonna
Speaker 2: join us at nine o'clock because I guess today was
Speaker 2: a big day going on with that fiasco. We just
Speaker 2: got made for TV stories all over the place, the
Speaker 2: dmula family battle and then the trial for Karen Reid
Speaker 2: on WBZ.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Very good, Rob Brooks, let's plan a feud, family feud.
Speaker 2: And on this side Arthur T and on the other
Speaker 2: side he's three sisters. I don't know their names. Everything
Speaker 2: I've read it just talks about the guys representing him.
Speaker 2: The sisters wanted the brother out. That's it.
Speaker 6: To me.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a minute what I'm thinking. Coming up
Speaker 2: at nine thirty, Blood in the Water. Casey Sherman, my buddy,
Speaker 2: has another great book out. We all remember Nathan Carmon.
Speaker 2: They found him in a lifeboat, his mother drowned, his
Speaker 2: grandfather had been murdered three years earlier. They were pointing
Speaker 2: the finger at hand before he took his own life.
Speaker 2: Casey has a very interesting take on this. It's a
Speaker 2: great book. We'll discuss at nine thirty the Karen Reid trial.
Speaker 2: And I have to admit I'm a little worn out
Speaker 2: on this. Just the folks, make up your mind. Christina Rex,
Speaker 2: attorney Esquire. Christina Rex from Channel four joins us. At
Speaker 2: ten o'clock, We're going to have some fun. Odie Henderson
Speaker 2: from the Global I love. We are going to talk
Speaker 2: about the career of Jack Lemon, and for those of
Speaker 2: you who may say Jack Lemon, Jack Lemon is one
Speaker 2: of the greatest actors of all time, and I will
Speaker 2: explain coming up at ten o'clock his range. My god,
Speaker 2: what an actor. Jackson Tolliver joins us. Fog friend of
Speaker 2: Gary talks Celtz of Patriots. That's at eleven o'clock right
Speaker 2: here on WBC. All right, let's grab some calls on
Speaker 2: this regarding market Basket and the sisters want the brother out.
Speaker 2: My opinion, somebody's trying to buy the place for a
Speaker 2: lot of money. That's what I think. Again, that's what
Speaker 2: I think. Oh my god, Margaret, I just lost you.
Speaker 2: Sorry about that, Margaret, if you want to call back,
Speaker 2: feel free. Did I hang up on your Margaret? I
Speaker 2: probably did, Rob, that's my bet. So here is a
Speaker 2: statement from Justin Justine Griffin, the spokesperson for Arthur T.
Speaker 2: Demolis Today, Mister Arthur T. De mooves was ousted from
Speaker 2: his position as president and CEO of market Basket by
Speaker 2: his three sister and they're three appointed board members. They
Speaker 2: gives their names his daughter, Madeleine and son. I don't
Speaker 2: want to I don't want to butcher the name. I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: I call it Telemachus, telemaccus, Telemachus. I don't want to
Speaker 2: be disrespectful on that. And several of the market Basket
Speaker 2: executives were also placed on leave. I know mister Demillis's leadership.
Speaker 2: In December of twenty four the company paid off a
Speaker 2: one point six billion dollars in financial debt when they
Speaker 2: purchased the company at twenty fourteen. That's when everybody walked
Speaker 2: out the door and said we support R and T.
Speaker 2: Company is currently operating at its peak performance. Again, this
Speaker 2: is from Martha T's side of the fence, but the
Speaker 2: notion that the board is going to conduct an investigation
Speaker 2: is a farcical cover for a hostile takeover. I mean,
Speaker 2: who can't buy that? Of course it's a takeover. Now look,
Speaker 2: I'm really not taking sides on this. Maybe the family says,
Speaker 2: look it's time to sell. We can make a lot
Speaker 2: of money for our family and that's it. Let's bail
Speaker 2: the Celtics are doing it. I don't bl the grouse Pecks.
Speaker 2: I don't blame them one bit. I do not blame IRV,
Speaker 2: Grousbeck and Wick six point one billion for that team,
Speaker 2: and some of that money is spread out to the
Speaker 2: other minority owners, but the majority it's going to the Grossbecks.
Speaker 2: Are you crazy? Make the deal? Jordan's have done it.
Speaker 2: Jordan's furniture, the Jordans, It's Jordan's furniture. The title bombs
Speaker 2: are the brothers. Sorry, I but they did it. They say,
Speaker 2: good for them. They worked hard, they built up a business,
Speaker 2: they sold, they cashed in great same thing with Whole Foods,
Speaker 2: Bretton circus Amazon. So I know, you know, do they
Speaker 2: have a responsibility to the thirty thousand employees, Because you
Speaker 2: know as well as I do. Somebody comes in and
Speaker 2: buys market basket, that thirty thousand dollars is gonna that
Speaker 2: thirty thousand employee roster is gonna get cut in half.
Speaker 2: There are so many stores that I can go into now,
Speaker 2: and I have to be careful because we've got sponsors
Speaker 2: and so forth. So I'm not gonna mention any names
Speaker 2: and maybe it's because they can't find workers. That's a
Speaker 2: whole other argument about how people don't want to work
Speaker 2: in retail. I'll go into stores and I just have
Speaker 2: a question. I just have a question. I want to
Speaker 2: talk to a person. I can't find them. I cannot
Speaker 2: find them. I can't some of the grocery stores, some
Speaker 2: of the retail stores, you know, if I want something
Speaker 2: in I was gonna saying that they don't really have hardware,
Speaker 2: you know. But if I'm looking in laundry, if I
Speaker 2: need something in the laundry detergent section, I have to
Speaker 2: go to women's clothing to talk to somebody, and they
Speaker 2: don't know what the hell's going on. Can you help
Speaker 2: me find the tide? Sorry? I only deal, you know,
Speaker 2: with dresses. And that's another thing with the moves. It's
Speaker 2: the customer service. People seem to appreciate the customer service.
Speaker 2: I'm telling me, the one next to my town is jammed.
Speaker 2: Jannie Shrew's you're up on WBZ.
Speaker 7: Hello, Hi Gary, Thank you to hear your voice again.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Jane, same here.
Speaker 7: I can't remember if it was two documentaries and one
Speaker 7: book or one documentary film and two books. But back
Speaker 7: when the strike happened.
Speaker 2: Right there was a documentary.
Speaker 7: Yes, we read those books and we watched the documentary,
Speaker 7: So if people are interested, that might be worth checking out. Again.
Speaker 7: I'm a frequent market basket shopper, and yeah, I like
Speaker 7: to I find many people offer good service there. One
Speaker 7: person doesn't. You can always find someone who will. And
Speaker 7: they have enough cashiers working, so it's a good experience.
Speaker 7: And they've diversified their product lines a lot. So I
Speaker 7: would be disappointed if there's another strike because I wouldn't
Speaker 7: want to go against r ET.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I Jane, I appreciate the call. I want
Speaker 2: to grab Alex real quick on this, and I think
Speaker 2: you're absolutely right. I think the majority of the people
Speaker 2: out there think like you do. Thank you for waiting.
Speaker 2: And another thing, I will go into source and you
Speaker 2: have these I like to go to a cashier that
Speaker 2: cashes me out. You know they have the automatic thing.
Speaker 2: I mean there's one store where I go to the
Speaker 2: automatic checkout and it screws me up every time, and
Speaker 2: I have to have somebody come out from behind the couletar,
Speaker 2: punch in their code and fix it. Like you need
Speaker 2: to put a bag in the bagging section I don't
Speaker 2: need a bag. I'm buying two things. There's no bag
Speaker 2: in the bagging section. The computer's talking to me. I
Speaker 2: swear to God. People think I'm nuts because I'm yelling
Speaker 2: at the computer. I don't have any bags. I just
Speaker 2: want to buy some shaving cream. Alex, you're up WBZ.
Speaker 2: How you doing?
Speaker 6: Hey? How you doing?
Speaker 8: Grey? So it's Telemapos. I happened to be Greek, so
Speaker 8: I thought i'd just get that in there. You know,
Speaker 8: I love market Basket, and I find that all the
Speaker 8: other supermarkets, you know, Bar nine, they are slow. So
Speaker 8: in market Basket you have an option of ten if
Speaker 8: you have less than twelve items or less twenty others.
Speaker 8: So let's but they have enough cash registers where you're
Speaker 8: in and out real quick, and you can't beat their prices.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's unbelievable, Alex, I gotta go.
Speaker 2: But I agree with you. If I go to the
Speaker 2: one and Maynard, I see a cashiers, I do. I mean,
Speaker 2: because grocery stores want you to go to automatic checkout
Speaker 2: so they don't have to pay people. But the automatic
Speaker 2: checkout doesn't always work. They have one poor person there
Speaker 2: that has to deal with idiots like me and come
Speaker 2: over and swipe their card and reset it again. That's
Speaker 2: what I'm talking about. Good Luck to Market Basket, good
Speaker 2: luck to the thirty thousand employees. That's the most important thing.
Speaker 2: I have an next, Christina rex esquire the latest time
Speaker 2: Karen Reid and Blood in the Water with Casey Sherman
Speaker 2: at nine thirty