Concord might have three Market Basket stores now but it doesn’t have three state liquor stores.
The New Hampshire Wine and Liquor Outlet next to the Market Basket on Fort Eddy Road has been shut as part of a consolidation of the state-owned stores following the opening of a larger liquor store next to Exit 17 of I-93.
“We’ve been upgrading our locations, moving them out of smaller venues to more highly trafficked areas,” said E.J. Powers, spokesman for the Liquor Commission.
The store on Fort Eddy Road, near the Fort Eddy Plaza, was about 6,000 square feet. The new store at 11 Merchants Way is about 12,000 square feet. The old liquor store, which had been in this location more than 30 years, closed on Aug. 10, the day before the new one opened.
The state liquor store in Capital Plaza on Storrs Street will remain open. Also staying open is a liquor store just south of the city line in Pembroke on Route 3.
The state has 66 Wine and Liquor Outlet stores. Concord’s stores have always been next to Market Baskets, but that is happenstance. Liquor officials have said there is no formal pairing with the popular New England supermarket chain.
