Look Out Amazon: Here Comes ShopMarketBasket.com

TEWKSBURY, MA -- Up until last week, a Google search for "Market Basket," the regional grocery chain known for low prices and a fiercely loyal customer base, would have turned up a long list of results. But the one thing that would not have been included in those search results would have been the company's official Website. You wouldn't have found a Market Basket Twitter or a Facebook profile, either. Instagram? Forget about it.

That's because before Monday, the company had none of the online real estate that is almost a given for businesses ranging from retail powerhouses like Amazon and Walmart down to the kid two blocks over who mows lawns and rakes leaves on weekends and after school. Market Basket finally joined digital era this week when it launched ShopMarketBasket.com and accompanying Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

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You can't order groceries online yet, but you can view the weekly flier, see job openings and watch videos highlighting the store's features. And -- this is a big one for a lot of Market Basket customers -- the Website includes a listing of all 79 stores and their hours the Tewksbury-based company operates in New England. The lack of online hours has been a big frustration for customers -- so much so that one of them created a Website for Market Basket to list store hours.

Michael Devaney of New Hampshire launched MyDemoulas.net when he couldn't find hours for his local Market basket and has since used it to catalog operating hours for other Market Basket locations. The site is heavily labeled with disclaimers that it has no ties to the company. Devaney was not immediately available for comment Thursday to discuss the fate of MyDemoulas.net now that Market basket has its very own Website.

Earlier this week, Joe Schmidt, Market Basket's operations supervisor, told the Boston Globe the site had not been a priority for the grocery chain. But in recent years, more customers had been asking for a Website, and the company responded. he also told the paper that the company saw MyDemoulas.net as flattery.

For more on this story, see the Boston Globe.

Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).