The super market is back

Updated to include Arthur T. Demoulas speaking with his coworkers this morning.

Space included intentionally in that title. An agreement was approved by shareholders late last night:

Market Basket deal ends bitter feud

Despite what the article posits, I think it will be less than a week before everything is as it was. As to this:

It also may be difficult to get back customers who have left because of distaste for family drama or because they have come to appreciate other stores.

David Livingston, a supermarket industry analyst at DJL Research in Milwaukee, predicted 80 to 90 percent of customers will return. But he cautioned shoppers to prepare for a slightly different atmosphere, with the possibility of lingering tensions and uncertainty about whether a company suddenly saddled with massive debt obligations can keep prices so low.

“I just don’t think Market Basket will ever be quite the same,” Livingston said. “It’s like going through a divorce and getting a second family.”

Mr. Livingston, I presume you’re guessing, as analysts are wont to do, but I think that’s a load of horse potatoes in this case.

This fellow in another Boston Globe article has a better understanding of the situation:

“This is historic. It was an unprecedented situation, and it defies everything we thought we knew about how businesses are run and who has the power. Many scholars, myself included, are eating crow right now.”
— Daniel Korschun, a fellow at the Center for Corporate Reputation Management at Drexel University

I’m going food shopping after work and I’m sure the place will be more packed with people than I’ve ever seen. I think Market Basket will see unprecedented and perhaps astounding revenue in the months to come.

UPDATE: Arthur T. Demoulas speaking the morning of 28 August: