COLONIE — Facing sharply increased competition, Price Chopper said Friday it will build a concept store meant to set the tone for its challengers.

The store will have 16 different eateries, an in-house cooking school, and produce grown and harvested in the store. It will be created by an expansion of the current Latham store on Route 9.

With four new ShopRite stores built in the Capital Region, as well as new competition from The Fresh Market, Trader Joe's and a coming Whole Foods market, Price Chopper intends to invest $61 million in 11 of its Capital Region stores. Its most ambitious effort is the expanded Latham market, expected to add 60 food-service jobs to the 350 now there.

"Our goal here is to create a store by which all other stores will be judged," said Neil Golub, executive chairman of the board for the company. "Every seven to 10 years, we go back to the drawing board. In our industry, there are those who lead and those who follow. The followers see what you're doing, and they try to replicate that."

The supermarket will add 10,000 square feet to the store for a total of 90,000 square feet. It will feature a New York Style deli, a chef's grill, a pizzeria, a Mexican restaurant, a New England-style fish fry, a salad and vegan bar, and a meat rotisserie among other places where customers can buy freshly made food that will be ready in five to seven minutes.

"A lot of the stuff (competitors) do is they cook it and put it out as a buffet," he said. "It has a short life and has to be thrown out."

A seating area will have room for 140, with 40 to 50 additional outdoor seats during the warmer months.

The in-house cooking school will invite local and regional chefs to cook in front of customers, and some of the store's produce will be grown and harvested within the store. The revised pharmacy will have an outdoor entrance and a drive-up window.

An expanded floral area will include a 20-foot-wide, 12-foot-tall living wall of plants, part of what Golub called "a shopping trip designed to entertain."

Golub said there are other aspects to the store he was not yet ready to disclose.

"What I have shared with you is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

Construction will start within 60 days, and the revamped store will open within 12 to 14 months. The existing market will remain open throughout the construction phase.

Golub Corp., the Schenectady-based company that owns the chain, plans to rename the store, though Golub did not disclose the new name. He said it would include the phrase "by Price Chopper."

Three years in the planning, the new concept store will be used as a test center and some of its amenities may be used in others in the 130-market chain, said Jerry Golub, Price Chopper's president and chief executive officer.

"It's going to be a great way to test new ideas and to bring new ideas to our other stores," he said.

Neil Golub said Price Chopper executives have spent the past three years touring the country and studying stores such as Pike Place Market in Seattle, foodlife in Chicago, and supermarkets and specialty stores in San Antonio, Dallas, Boca Raton, Fla., and elsewhere.

The Latham site was selected after Bon Ton vacated the space next to the existing Price Chopper.

"When I heard the space became available, that's the moment I said 'We're going to do it,' " Golub said.

The chain invested $46 million in revamping 11 of its stores in the last five years, he said, and it will now invest $61 million in 11 other stores including Latham. The others to be modernized are the Madison and Delaware avenue stores in Albany, the Hudson Valley Plaza store in Troy, and the Loudonville, Mechanicville, Chatham, Rotterdam and Watervliet stores. The North Troy and Guilderland stores will be revamped after that, he said.

"You have 130 stores. You have to repaint a store or freshen it up every 5 years because stores get beat up," Neil Golub said.

Jerry Golub said the chain wants to build new stores from the ground up in Chatham and Watervliet. The chain has a few other locations in mind for new stores, he said, but he is not ready to say where.

tobrien@timesunion.com • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientu