The long-awaited Market Basket supermarket set to open this Friday off Exit 17 of Interstate 93 dwarfs the other two stores in Concord.
At 81,000 square feet, the new store is two-thirds bigger than the Market Basket at Fort Eddy Road and nearly triple the size of the one on Storrs Street.
David McLean, operations manager for Demoulas Supermarkets, said the newer stores have evolved to include more amenities, like a sit-down cafe with wi-fi and a larger selection of prepared and ready-to-eat food.
“It is just a much more modern concept,” McLean said.
The new store will open to customers in less than a week and the grocery aisles are already filled with non-perishable and frozen items. Dairy, meats, produce and deli products will arrive the night before opening.
McLean said the store’s geographic location made sense even though Concord has two other Market Baskets. He cited the growth of the surrounding towns and the planned construction of 600 or more housing units along the Merrimack River on 95-acres of land behind the Concord Monitor building that is early in the planning stages.
“You build this store and you realize it’s going to take care of not just this end of Concord, not just the village on the other side of the river, Penacook Village, but you have Canterbury, Boscawen and even points of Andover and New London if people come this way, and certainly the southern part of Loudon coming down,” he said. “There are multiple communities in this pocket that the store could take care of, and obviously the traffic on Route 4, it’s incredible.”
The store will be the anchor tenant at the new plaza, which is officially named Merchants Way. A state liquor store opened earlier this month, and work is continuing on several other stores, including a Home Goods store and a standalone Wendy’s restaurant. Construction will begin shortly on another structure that will hold a Service Credit Union and a Jersey Mike’s restaurant.
A 12-connection Tesla Supercharger station has been open for several months.
The work at the site included city-overseen construction on Hoit and Whitney roads, especially the two-lane roundabout at the intersection, which is now open to traffic.
McLean said hiring was made easier by existing employees who wanted to move to the new store, primarily because it was closer to home. Beyond the new amenities, the biggest thing that sets this store apart from the other two in Concord is space.
“When you shop, you need elbow space,” McLean said. “You need to be able to stop and read the label. You want to be able to see things.”
And for anyone that’s anxious about the fate of the other Concord stores, McLean said they will both remain open.
“Those aren’t going anywhere,” he said. “The customers that rely on those stores, they’ll still be there.”