Tops Markets is keeping tabs on stores being sold by Quality Markets parent company Penn Traffic, stirring rumors of coming expansion.

The Syracuse-based Penn Traffic is selling 79 supermarket locations as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing undertaken last month. The stores operate under the names Bi-Lo, P&C and Quality in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire. The company operates 13 stores in Western New York.

Speculation that the Williamsvillebased chain will snap up at least some of the Penn Traffic stores heated up when Tops filed papers in a Delaware bankruptcy court requesting copies of any notices or documents served in the Penn Traffic case. It also retained counsel with Wilmington firm Young Conaway Stargatt&Taylor, LLP to represent it in the matter.

Tops’ request to stay abreast of Penn Traffic’s situation is its first official show of interest in the chain’s stores, though analysts have suggested Tops would be a logical potential buyer.

Tops’ solid sales numbers combined with the fact Penn Traffic’s stores are contiguous to Tops’ primary trading area mean a Tops bid “makes strong strategic sense,” according to Burt Flickinger III, managing partner of retail consulting firm Strategic Research Group.

If it does bid, the chain will have a better chance at staying united, rather than being broken up or sold piecemeal at auction.

“There is solid hope that one buyer like Tops can step forward for the greater bundle of stores,” he said.

UFCW Local One in Utica, the union that represents Penn Traffic workers, has expressed hope the stores would be bought by Tops, which is also a UFCW member.

If Tops did take on Penn Traffic stores, it would likely change the names of the Quality Markets stores to Tops Friendly Markets and keep others under the P&C moniker, which has strong name recognition in the middle of the state, Flickinger said.

For now, Tops is staying tight lipped. Spokeswoman Kate McKenna said the media would be kept abreast of any expansion plans, but that there was nothing to report.

“Tops continues to evaluate all opportunities as they present themselves,” she said in a statement.

Penn Traffic filed bankruptcy last month for the third time in a decade. This time, the company is seeking to sell all of its assets, including the 13 Quality Markets in Western New York — Attica, Dunkirk, Ellicottville, Falconer, Frewsburg, Jamestown, Lakewood, Lockport, Mayville, Randolph, Silver Creek, Westfield and Amherst.

The company lost $17.6 million last year, an improvement over its $42 million losses in 2007.