Market Basket — Local services in Athol

I have shopped at this store since it opened and there is no other store I'd rather shop in. The store manager is friendly, warm, genuine. I've stopped and chatted with him briefly a few times as he walks around the store and he always gives me his undivided attention. When I first shopped here the baggers made my bags too heavy in spite of my asking them not to. (my joints ache and it's difficult to carry heavy bags some days). I brought it to the store manager's attention and ever since the cashiers and baggers seem to make it a priority to keep my bags "light". (I am very grateful they do). This store is always clean, (including the restrooms!), the shelves are always well-stocked or in the process of being stocked, the employees are very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. I have shopped all hours/days from early am to closing on weekdays as well as having done the same on weekends. I have worked in customer service all of my life; therefore, I can be quite critical when I spot things going wrong. This store's employees and management appear to be striving to make this store an exceptional one. It is my belief that they are succeeding. I have shopped at other Market Baskets before the one in Athol opened up. There is no other Market Basket I'd rather shop in. Leominster, Fitchburg, Keene, NH are all nice stores..., but Athol, to me, is the cream of the crop. And before someone asks.....No, I don't work for Market Basket nor am I a "mystery shopper", etc. I ran restaurants before I retired and understand the great importance of giving each customer a reason to drive past all of the competition and come to my store because they receive the best experience there. When the food quality, prices and all other choices are close to equal, the only thing left to beat your competition with is outstanding Customer Service. The management of the Athol Market Basket store appears to...

This is an excellent Market Basket and an example of what all Market Baskets should aspire to be. Everything in the store was meticulously detailed and placed exactly where it should be. The deli was very clean and well stocked, as were the seafood and meat departments, the bakery was well organized, the isles were clean and fully stocked, everything in the produce department was fresh and clean, and the kitchen was full of prepared foods. The staff throughout the store were well dressed and professional, and obviously working hard to maintain their standard of what a grocery shopping experience should be.

The prices in the store were reasonable, as with most Market Baskets, and the prepared foods were made to order or available under a hot lamp. The best deal in the kitchen is probably the cheeseburger and fries for $2.99, made to order, topped with almost whatever you'd like, served on a toasted bun, and wrapped to go, and served with a giant handful of crispy thick cut fries. The wings were good, but not great, and were more ob the expensive end of prepared foods. The seafood salad from the deli was prepackaged and not the best quality, unfortunately. At $5.99 for a one pound prepackaged container, I expected it to be better than average, but it fell short of that.

The store also has a seating area in front where you could relax for a while after shopping, or enjoy some of the very good freshly made food from the kitchen. There are two restrooms, one in the seating area by the main entrance, and one next to the...

We have shopped at Market Basket Athol every week on Wednesday morning for the past several years, and travel 1/2 hour each way to do so because the values are so great. But two of the departments that require direct customer service, the deli/seafood dept and the prepared foods at the cafe (we often get lunch at the end) had really degenerated in the past few months. Service in both departments had gotten inattentive, slow and sometimes even rude. The quality of the prepared foods had gotten uneven and sometimes poor (sloppily made subs, overcooked chicken tenders, foods not available). But this past Wednesday there were new people manning these two areas, and our experience was very positive. Workers were quick, cheerful, energetic, and very courteous and competent.. It seemed there has been a shake-up in staffing, which positively affected our experience. And even our check-out experience was better than before, with new, more competent checkers and baggers. We hope these changes will continue! Shout out especially to the person who made our meatball sub, she was genuinely responsive, competent and upbeat, and I thanked her for that!! When you pair good value with great customer service, that’s a win in my book! Keep up the good work! (Note that not all of the “older” workers were lacking, and we saw that they were...