Officials at New England Development could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The new Barsamian's opened in March 1998. In October, Lechmere closed. The outcome of the new location was as Barsamian had expected.

"The store was a complete failure," he said.

But because of all he'd invested in the new store, Barsamian could no longer afford to keep either store running, though he said his Mass. Ave. location attracted between 8,000 and 10,000 customers per week.

In February of this year, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Last Wednesday, Barsamian's landlord for the Mass. Ave. store took him to court and the store's status was switched to Chapter 7, or liquidation. This means the store must close and its assets will be sold.

Since Barsamian only found out what was happening last Tuesday evening, his employees had not discovered until Wednesday that they would be out of their jobs.

"Overnight, 30-some people lost their jobs," Barsamian said. He is working on finding them placements in other stores.

Chowdhury Baset had worked at the market 11 years. He began as a cashier and worked his way up to the position of night manager.