It’s not clear what will replace the Market Basket supermarket in the Turnpike Plaza, on Amherst Street just west of Exit 7 of the Everett Turnpike, after it closes Saturday. A mile west in the Somerset Plaza, the current Market Basket is expected to close within a few weeks as a larger store opens in the same shopping center in the former Sears Essentials spot.

That store has no official opening date beyond “opening soon,” but shelves are being stocked.

The chain also opened its 69th store in Bedford on May 9, continuing its seemingly unstoppable drive north from its Massachusetts roots, even as the entire supermarket industry is under assault from all sides. Market Basket, officially called Demoulas after the family that founded it, is on a roll in New Hampshire, where it now has 30 stores.

The June 2011 opening of its massive Londonderry store was mobbed by so many people that doors had to be shut for a time; a new Manchester store opened in June 2012. Further afield, its first Maine store, in Biddeford, is slated to open this summer. One of Market Basket’s main New England competitors, Shaw’s, is struggling. It laid off some 700 employees across New England this winter as its parent company, Supervalu, has reportedly considered selling off the brand.

– Telegraph Staff