marketbasketMarket Basket, the New England grocer, is set to open its first Maine store in 2013 in the town of Biddeford. This is according to town officials who published a report in a local paper.

Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson talked to the Journal Tribune and said that the first Maine store of Market Basket would open in either summer or fall of next year. The Biddeford site is the location of a former Lowe’s, which has been vacant since it closed in 2011.

According to the newspaper, the grocery chain is planning on investing $11 million to renovate the store and that at least 600 locals will be hired next summer to fill positions, with a quarter of these positions being full-time jobs. Stevenson, in the report, also said that the new store location will feature a café and a bakery and would have about 108,000 square feet of space. Roby Fecteau, the codes enforcement officer, divulged in the article that he had met the project manager of the store and discussed building permits that would be needed, although permits had not yet been issued.

Tewksbury, Massachusetts-based Demoulas Market Basket is a family-owned grocery chain that operates 69 locations in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

The grocery chain was founded in 1916 by Greek immigrants Efrosini and Athanasios (“Arthur”) Demoulas. The two opened a store that specialized in lamb in the Lowell area of Massachusetts. The year 1954 saw the grocery store sold to 2 of their 6 children George and Telemachus (“Mike”) Demoulas and within fifteen years the brothers transformed the store to a modern supermarket that had 15 stores.