ShopRite is returning to the Lehigh Valley. Just a little over a week after ShopRite officially opened its biggest-ever store in the Poconos, the grocer said it planned to build a new 68,000-square-foot store just west of the St. Luke's Hospital Anderson Campus on Freemansburg Avenue in Bethlehem Township.

The store is the first new ShopRite in the Lehigh Valley since the grocer closed its area stores about 10 years ago.

The closest current ShopRite stores to the new location would be the new Stroudsburg store, located in Brodheadsville, and the existing store in Phillipsburg, N.J.

The new Bethlehem store will be owned by the same owner of the Phillipsburg store, according to spokeswoman Santina Stankevich. That owner is ShopRite of Hunterdon County, which, in turn, is owned by the Colalillo Family.

“All of our stores are family owned and operated,” said Stankevich. “That way it helps each store be more unique to the community.”

Stankevich said the Bethlehem Township store will be completely new construction and could be opened by the fall of 2014. She did note that plans have not been finalized and could still change.