Market Basket’s home opener

Even in the economic headwinds of the coronavirus, the Market Basket supermarket chain continues to expand, now with more than 80 stores in three states, including two in Fitchburg and another in Leominster.

And in the century-plus since the opening of that first modest grocery store on Dummer Street in Lowell’s Acre neighborhood, the Demoulas family has never forgotten its roots.

So, it only seems fitting that its newest store will open today right here in Lowell, in the supermarketstarved Pawtucketville section of the city.

The 72,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art establishment on Old Ferry Road joins three other strategically located Lowell locations.

Market Basket officials gave the newspaper a sneak peek of what’s in store for customers coming through the doors for the first time.

In addition to more than 50,000 food items, the newest Market Basket comes with a dine-in kitchen and café, an in-store bakery, a small butcher’s shop and a lunch area featuring fresh sandwiches, brick-oven pizza and hand-rolled sushi.

As in its other stores, it will only offer full-service checkout; customers can pay for groceries in several ways, including EBT and EBT cash.

Market Basket, unlike other grocery-store chains, eschews self-checkout counters, relying instead on the personal approach, which allows for a wide range of diverse employees, from entrylevel high-school students to retirees looking to make a little money. That policy allowed the company to hire 300 people for the Pawtucketville operation – bucking this state’s bleak unemployment picture.

“We’re very fortunate to be in the type of business that has been deemed essential, and these communities count on food stores,” Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas told the newspaper. “We’re blessed with a lot of hard-working people.”

Market Basket will be joined in the new plaza by a Marshall’s, which is set to open directly next door early next year.

Under CEO “Arthur T,” Market Basket has continued to be the industry’s gold standard, in both customer and worker satisfaction.

We wish the company nothing but success in this latest venture.