DeMoulas Market Basket
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| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Grocery |
| Founded | Lowell, Massachusetts, United States (1917) |
| Founder |
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| Headquarters | Tewksbury, Massachusetts, United States |
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Number of locations
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77 (2016) |
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Area served
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New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine |
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Key people
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| Products | Bakery (not available at all stores), Dairy, Deli, Frozen Foods, Grocery, Meat, Health & Beauty Aids, Produce, Seafood, Snacks, Beer & Wine (NH and Maine stores only), Food service (not available at all stores) |
| Revenue | US$4 Billion (2015) |
| Owner | Frances Demoulas, Glorianne Demoulas, Arthur T. Demoulas, Caren Demoulas |
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Number of employees
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25,000 (2014) |
| Parent | DeMoulas Supermarkets, Inc. |
DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc., under the trade name Market Basket, is a chain of 78 supermarkets in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine in the United States, with headquarters in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. The newest one opened in Rochester, New Hampshire.
From 1990 through late August 2014, the company was the center of a controversy over ownership and leadership, which culminated in protests receiving international media attention. On August 27, 2014, an agreement was reached between its feuding owners to sell the 50.5% stake of the company owned by the family of Arthur S. Demoulas to his cousin Arthur T. Demoulas for $1.5 billion.
In 1917, Greek immigrants Athanasios ("Arthur") and Efrosini Demoulas opened DeMoulas Market, a grocery store in the Acre neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts that specialized in fresh lamb. In 1938, the store, which operated largely on credit due to the Great Depression, was being threatened with foreclosure. The Demoulases' youngest son, Telemachus, also known as Mike, either quit or was expelled from school and went to work at the store full-time. Eventually the family earned the money needed to avoid foreclosure.
After World War II, Mike's older brother George also joined the family business. Also after the war, housing projects were constructed in the Acre, which resulted in a larger customer base for the Demoulases. In 1950, the Demoulas Brothers opened a new store to replace the original market. In 1954, they purchased the business from their parents. By 1956, the market's sales had jumped from $2,000 a year to $900,000 and the brothers began expanding. Within 15 years, the two brothers had transformed their parents' "mom and pop"-style store into a modern supermarket chain consisting of 15 stores.
On June 27, 1971, George Demoulas died of a heart attack while on vacation in Greece, making Mike the sole head of the Demoulas supermarket chain. Shortly thereafter, in an effort to skirt laws limiting the amount of beer and wine licenses one supermarket chain could have, Mike Demoulas began opening stores under different names. These stores, which eventually became the Market Basket chain, were controlled entirely by Mike Demoulas and his family.
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Wikipedia