WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. successfully bid at auction Friday to control 18 former Ames stores for $75.5 million.

“This purchase further strengthens Shaw’s position as the second largest food retailer in New England,” Shaw’s president and chief executive Paul Gannon said.

In bankruptcy court filings last month, Ames announced its intention to sell two stores and leases on 16 others to Shaw’s. Friday’s auction in New York seals that deal.

Gannon said the 18 properties would be converted to new stores or replacements for existing stores, and “real estate opportunities.”

The stores are in Waltham, Dedham, Beverly, Stoneham, Fall River, Sturbridge and Worcester. Other stores are in Saco and Wiscasset, Maine, and in New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut.

Rocky Hill, Conn.-based Ames announced in August that that it would close all its 327 stores in 14 states and the District of Columbia, leaving about 22,000 people jobless.