Market Basket and Wal-Mart; A Tale of Two Cities

Perhaps one city and a small village would be more accurate.

Wal-Mart has over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, has over two million employees and grossed $468 billion last year. Market Basket boasts 71 stores in 3 states, twenty-five thousand employees and grossed $4 billion. That comparison would make the Wal-Mart city as large as Houston and Market Basket the size of the village of Northampton, Massachusetts. Those are the stats and basically Goliath is, in this comparison, 150 times the size of David.

Dickens Tale of Two Cities opens with “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” and so does our tale fall together. Sound familiar in these fractious times?

Both Wal-Mart and Market Basket are undergoing the best of times and the worst of times, …