On Market Basket

11/14/2020:

First time I was at a Market Basket it was in 2015 after college in suburban crappy NH town bordering MA. I rode my bike there over the highway sometimes walked to it even. It was cheap, had everything I wanted, and was a pretty good grocery store all things considered. Compared to Star Market or Shaw's which is where I went before, it was heaven.

Then I stopped going there since Hannaford's -- I should write about them in the future -- was better, closer and cleaner, though it was marginally more expensive. The Taylor Swift songs playing in the store's PA systems covered the difference.

I started to look upon Market Basket as grubbier, poorer version of the 'nice' NorthEast grocery chain. Downmarket Hannaford's. More affordable and diverse than Stop and Shop obviously so much better, but still pretty crappy. My idea of the store was that's were lower-middle and working class families in the New England went to shop.

For years I didn't go to the store unless I absolutely had to. Perhaps twice or three times I went in the last four years I've lived in the greater Boston Area.

Since the Covid situation and the need to take longer walks in the evenings took hold, I've been going to the nearby Marketbasket very often. Like thrice a week really. Not because I need to buy groceries but because it's the ideal destination, and somewhere to kill time having fun. I enjoy grocery shopping alright.

Things I like about the store: they cater to their populations. So many Brazilian, Hispanic, East Asian items. All the vegetables I'd want at Chinatown I can pretty much find there, including collard greens, all the other greens, cabbages etcetera. Their selection of 'interesting' fruits is also quite large. You can buy fruits by the count, so one apple, one kiwi etcetera are feasible shopping trips to have had. They have a large choice of local and 'ethically-sourced' chocolate bars.

Their choices of affordable cheeses and drinks seems to be quite large, though it's unclear if I feel that way because I haven't explored Wegman's in a similar manner.

As I write this I looked up Market Basket and in terms of employee and customer satisfaction from Customers it comes second only to Wegmans and Aldi comes in close third. I'm honored really to have such an amazing option of grocery chains near me. All of them so affordable too!

More on this later.