Amid Market Basket layoffs, a bidder reportedly in the wings

The turmoil surrounding Market Basket supermarkets continued with layoffs and a possible bidder, according to various reports Friday.

Market Basket’s store in Biddeford is laying off 300 part-time workers, following a directive by the company’s co-CEOs Felicia Thornton and James Gooch to all store managers “to manage payroll” in response to a three-week customer boycott that has caused sales to plummet by 90 percent at many stores.

Micum McIntire told Seacoastonline.com the layoffs would take effect immediately.

“I am not able to use any part-timers at this time,” McIntire told Seacoastonline.com, the online publication for York County Coast Star and several other newspapers in southern Maine and New Hampshire, adding that there are about 20,000 part-timers throughout the Market Basket chain. “Hopefully it’s temporary. Obviously we’re hoping this thing turns around so we can get back to normalcy.”

Meanwhile, The Boston Globe is reporting today that Delhaize Group SA of Belgium, the parent company of Market Basket competitor Hannaford Bros. Co. and Food Lion, is a “serious bidder” for the grocery chain, although a Delhaize spokesman told the newspaper the company would not “comment on rumors or speculation regarding plans to acquire or divest businesses.”

A food industry analyst told the Boston newspaper that if Delhaize’s bid was successful, it would benefit from Market Basket’s extremely loyal customer base, but would be constrained for that very reason to tinker with Market Basket’s emphasis on low prices and customer service. Even so, the analyst suggested it would be a tempting buyout target for Delhaize.

“Market Basket is a great franchise — period,” Andrew Wolf, a food industry analyst with BB&T Capital Markets told The Boston Globe. “If you can buy a great franchise and maintain what it represents, that’s what big companies are built to do.”

The Massachusetts-based chain, with 70 supermarket stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in addition to the Biddeford store, is in its third week of boycotts by customers and workers demanding the return of ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, who was fired in June by the company’s board controlled by his cousin Arthur S. Demoulas.

Arthur T. Demoulas who has made an offer to purchase the remaining 50.5% shares of the company owned by his rival cousin and that side of the family, Seacoastonline.com reported, adding that the company's board has said it’s evaluating that offer and others.