TOUR: Market Basket - Westford, MA

Market Basket

Opened: 2012

Owner: DeMoulas family

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: none

Location: 6 Cornerstone Sq, Westford, MA

Photographed: May 15, 2024

It's only fair warning that, as we travel through this part of the state, we'll be seeing a lot of Market Basket. The chain of about 90 stores is headquartered right nearby in Tewksbury, and the Lowell area is their home turf. Because of that, there are some older stores that remain around here (such as this one just under 20 miles west). But at the same time, as I've mentioned, Market Basket is pretty serious about updating their stores. Here in Westford, a new-build location opened in 2012, more or less replacing a location diagonally across the street -- although that store remained in business until 2015.

This one is just a tiny bit larger than the Littleton location we saw on Monday, by about 2000 square feet. This location is around 67,000 square feet, a pretty typical size for a Market Basket (although they have stores that range from around half that size to about double that size).

Inside, the layout is typical as well. Dairy is on the right side in the first aisle, with deli and seafood at the back of the first aisle. Meat lines the rest of the back wall, cold cuts are in the second aisle, and produce and frozen are on the left side in the last few aisles. Bakery, prepared foods, and the Market's Cafe are in the front-left corner.

This store hasn't been renovated since it opened, but as I've mentioned, Market Basket's renovations tend to be functional (expansions, replacing older fixtures, etc) more than cosmetic -- since the decor hasn't changed chainwide for decades.

Market Basket moved here from a roughly 45,000 square foot 1980s-era location diagonally across the street. That store is now home to a Whole Foods, which opened around 2015 and which we'll be touring tomorrow.

You can see, through my pictures of Market Basket so far, their consistency in execution. Except for a handful of problem stores, essentially all of their locations are extraordinarily clean, well-stocked, and well-maintained. Shiny floors and not a burnt-out light in sight.

And Market Basket's ongoing expansion has been a thorn in Stop & Shop's side, a chain whose tendency to understaff and understock hasn't served them well. Other area chains, like Shaw's and Hannaford, seem to hold up mostly fine against Market Basket, although the former has struggled and closed locations that compete with Market Basket in the past.

Especially in this area, it's hard to explain the loyalty to Market Basket that so many people have. In some areas, they're simply the only supermarket, but in others, people will seek out Market Basket and forever proclaim its superiority. I lived in Massachusetts for five years -- most of that time, not within a reasonable distance of a Market Basket -- and I never really understood the obsession around it. But having more experience with the chain, now I get it. They're very cheap, they have an enormous selection, and they're staffed at a level far higher than basically any other chain.

But those advantages only become fully clear when you start to do serious shopping there. When you're just visiting, it's easy to see the old-school stores with their awkward layouts and zero emphasis on decor and shrug it off. But don't underestimate Market Basket.

As we transition into produce, as usual, there's no real difference in the decor or appearance. It's almost refreshing how little Market Basket cares about the cosmetic appearance of their stores (except for stocking and maintenance, of course). They are stubbornly anti-trend to the point of being essentially timeless.

Frozen in the last few aisles, with produce and ice cream in the last, extra-wide aisle. 19 aisles in total here.

And in the front corner, bakery and prepared foods in Market's Kitchen.

The typical Market's Kitchen has a hot food bar, a sub counter, sushi, pizza, a soup and salad bar, and a grill for things like hamburgers and cheese steaks, or steak and cheese as they say in central Massachusetts.

Then around the corner is Market's Cafe, which is usually a coffee shop with the seating area to the left on the front wall.

The front-end is stubbornly retro, too, right down to the famous clock adorning every front-end. The registers could be straight out of 1960, but they were new in 2012. No self-checkouts, either.

That's all for the Westford Market Basket, although we'll see plenty of other locations in the Lowell area. Tomorrow we're off to the Whole Foods that's made its home in the former Market Basket across the street!