“Artie” ”“ I’m hearing the name everywhere lately, and I have to say I don’t really know him. Perhaps I really don’t have to. Reading up on his philosophy on running a store and company with large inventory and logistics requirements pretty much tells what he’s about, and why his employees, managers and associates alike have risked their jobs to come to his aid to demand his rehiring as CEO of Market Basket grocery stores.
He started as a youth working for his dad, George, and worked his way and learned his way into what his dad had established and stuck by his principles: Hire and train good and loyal employees to provide not only the best customer service but a committed employee service working together and always looking after each other and in final objective of top customer service.
Artie took his dad’s approach, committed to the product, covering each other and serving the customer. Their other main focus was the method of business practice. Choose a means of providing the best in merchandise at a reasonable price to consumers. To do this, they chose the bulk buying concept of operations. Not that all stores don’t do the same, they do, but not to Demoulas’ extent. Other stores provide reasonable stock, but fail to hold large inventories that serve up to stock shelves, and at the same time provide a lower wholesale price paid reflecting the on-shelf retail price so extremely competitive and reasonable to consumers.
The problem with this approach is the capital outlay, which is high, but with good financial management all the way to the sales floor, it still ensures a very profitable return retail. This concept has been around for years but modern, large, Wall Street businesses publicly owned would find it extremely hard to follow because they are totally dictated infrastructure business practice by the public responsive board and Wall Street stocks. This makes the CEO totally responsive likewise.
Demoulas is also committed to stock price, but at a lower return on the base, which accelerates through bulk supply and sales run correctly producing bulk profit even at a lower per share value. They’re extremely competitive in a strong market, they have good, loyal employees and they have an untied family CEO who runs by the competition of the market he knows and not some share holder or Wall Street board member, which the new CEOs are now leaning to.
To Artie T., it’s a tip of my hat for showing the community area and perhaps the nation a concept that speaks with good, old American drive, loyalty, family and attention to detail and the value of competition on a market that has become too unresponsive and stagnant. Certainly he and his dad did not forget what really made America great: loyalty to free, competitive enterprise and the value of the worker.
John Flynn, Sanford
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