PORTSMOUTH — Matthew Matson, store manager at the Woodbury Avenue Market Basket, has worked for the company for 40 years.

PORTSMOUTH — Matthew Matson, store manager at the Woodbury Avenue Market Basket, has worked for the company for 40 years.



Like many of the company’s employees and a growing number of customers, he said he is worried about today’s board of directors meeting in Andover, Mass., where one side of the bitterly divided family that owns the popular and successful supermarket chain is expected to try to oust Chief Executive Officer Arthur T. Demoulas.



“I’m concerned. I’m nervous. I’m worried about the unknown,” Matson said during an interview Wednesday evening in the store he manages. “It’s an extremely stable and successful company, and we’re worried about any changes.”



Matson said Market Basket has earned the fierce loyalty of its customers because of its low prices and what he called “respect.”



“We respect you and how you spend your hard-earned dollar,” Matson said.



The company has also cultivated dedicated employees, Matson said, in no small part due to its profit-sharing plan.



“All these young people benefit from that just like everyone else,” Matson said as he pointed to his group of young cashiers and baggers.



Savannah Tyo, of Somersworth, and Keeley Vanbramer, of Portsmouth, spent part of their day Wednesday standing outside in the blistering heat and humidity, where they volunteered to gather signatures for a petition to save Demoulas’ job.



“I’m worried that prices are going to go up and we’re going to lose customers and maybe lose our jobs,” said Tyo, who has worked for Market Basket for eight years.



Vanbramer said many employees have gotten used to the fighting between the Demoulas family members, but people seem more concerned about the latest battle.



“Everybody is worried about what’s going to happen,” Vanbramer said. “We’ve heard that they might cut part-time jobs and a lot of people work here and play sports or go to school.”



Neil Niman, the chairman of the University of New Hampshire Department of Economics, said Wednesday that people have a right to be concerned.



He said the board of directors of the privately held company, which is led by Arthur S. Demoulas — Arthur T. Demoulas’ cousin and the son of George Demoulas, one of the company’s co-founders — has the votes to remove the current chief executive officer, who is the son of the other co-founder, Telemachus “Mike” Demoulas.



“It’s not a real board of directors like you have in a publicly held company; it’s two sides of the family that’s fighting over control of the company,” Niman said. “One family wants to grow the company so everyone makes money, and the other side, which now has control of the board, wants to put more money in their pockets.”



Niman said the board fight and potential ouster of the CEO could “not come at a worse time,” because the Albertsons, the company that owns Shaw’s, decided just a few weeks ago to abandon its loyalty card program and cut prices across the board instead.



“I don’t know if they can afford the luxury of squabbling among themselves right now because the supermarket business in New England has taken an interesting turn,” Niman said. “Other grocery chains are starting to move into their space, when over the last 10 to 20 years they’ve had the low price space to themselves.”



If the company removes Arthur T. Demoulas today, Niman sees that as a clear indication the board will be taking money out of the business to keep more of the profits themselves.



“I think one of three or all three things will happen: Either you’re going to have surly employees because the new director will get rid of profit sharing, or if you shop in one of their less pleasant stores, like the one in Stratham, you’re not going to see the improvements they’ve been making throughout the chain,” Niman said. “Or they’ll try to increase (profit) margins by raising prices.”



Niman bemoaned the board’s willingness to ruin a business model that has been successful while also treating employees well through benefits such as profit-sharing, which he said is “rare” these days.



“It’s interesting to see how they’re willing to cut off their nose to spite their face,” he said.



Gay Lakin, of Kittery, Maine, said she has been shopping at Market Basket for longer than she can remember.



“I used to shop at Shaw’s, but then I switched to Market Basket because their prices were so much lower and I could still get everything I wanted,” she said Wednesday night during an interview outside the Woodbury Avenue store.



Lakin said she did not know of today’s planned board meeting, but said she doesn’t think anything needs to be changed.



“I think everything works pretty well right now,” she said.