Tacoma-based supermarket chain Marketplace Food and Drug will move into the store vacated by the Port Orchard Thriftway which closed its doors in December.

Greg Saar, who operates seven other Marketplace supermarkets, confirmed that he has signed a long term lease for the store which is one of the anchors at the center that also houses the Port Orchard Big K-Mart.

The Port Orchard outlet will be the company’s first venture in Kitsap County. It has one store in Port Angeles, four in Tacoma, one in Renton and one on Whidbey Island.

Saar believes that based on the area’s demographics, his store is a much better fit for the community than the Thriftway, which former owner Signo Uddenberg tried to pattern after the wildly successful Queen Anne Thriftway in North Tacoma. The main problem is the demographics of the two areas are much different.

When Marketplace opens it will again be the only supermarket in South Kitsap that is not part a national chain. There are two Albertsons, a Safeway, a QFC and a Fred Meyer. Limited groceries are also available at Wal-Mart, Walgreens and Rite Aid.

According to Saar, the store will employ 80 to 100 people, of which 60 percent of will be full-time. He is hoping to hire some of the former Thriftway employees

Marketplace operates much the same way the Stock Market Foods stores do. Ironically Stock Market was the first supermarket in the Thriftway location, opening there 12 years ago before the Gig Harbor-based Keith Uddenberg chain sold out to QFC, which was almost immediately bought out by Fred Meyer.