Bad Blood

Here in Massachusetts there is a blood feud occurring between the Demoulas cousins, Arthur T. and Arthur S. over the control of the Market Basket grocery chain. Briefly, the Board of Directors recently ousted Arthur T. as CEO and replaced him with Arthur S.'s nominees … causing a revolt among the employees at most of these stores. Many have refused to come to work unless Arthur T. is re-instated and have therefore been fired … and, as a result, this company is suffering in extremis.

Market Basket stores are emptying out of both goods and customers and this family-owned private company has been losing millions of dollars a day for almost three weeks. To read more of the details of this nasty brouhaha, read: Boston Globe Story. Boston talk radio is also chock-a-block full of callers offering the pros and cons of this internecine battle.

I have shopped at our local Market Basket and like it quite a lot and am saddened by the real possibility that things there will never be the same again. And I am sure that I can never know all the ins and outs of this battle between these cousins. Was this all started by some insult at a family gathering? Or is it just the greed for a bigger slice of the company largess that is the root of all this silliness?

Whatever the reason, may I make one modest suggestion to the Demoulas extended family … revised from an old saw … close ranks, blood runs thicker than seltzer water.