Dive Brief:

• Food Lion is preparing to unveil 29 remodeled supermarkets in the Wilmington, North Carolina, area following a $50 million project aimed at sprucing up the locations and expanding options for customers, the retailer announced in a press release Monday.
• The Ahold Delhaize-owned grocery chain said it will hold ribbon-cuttings at 24 of the stores on Wednesday morning and plans to open five additional refreshed locations to the public “soon.”
• The project has a strong focus on convenience, and includes providing e-commerce services at all of the remodeled stores and expanding the range of meal solutions the supermarkets offer customers.

Dive Insight:

Food Lion is wrapping up improvements at the 29 North Carolina stores included in the remodeling campaign as the chain looks to maintain its rapid growth, which includes increasing same-store sales during every quarter for more than a decade.

The grocer’s consistently strong performance has won praise from Ahold Delhaize President and CEO Frans Muller, who pointed out during the Dutch grocer’s fourth-quarter earnings call in February that Food Lion has increased its sales per square foot by 80% over the past 10 years. Ahold Delhaize will release earnings for the first quarter of 2023 on Wednesday.

“Food Lion's success really epitomizes the potential for growth and market share with the relentless focus on the customer experience, keeping stores vibrant and modern, adding new digital features and functions and investing in our associates and culture,” Muller said during the call.

The overhauled stores include enhancements like LED lights and refrigerated cases with doors, which Food Lion said “impart ambiance, enhance fresh product assortment and reduce energy costs.” The grocer also said it redid the decor in the stores.

All of the remodeled stores will offer pickup service, delivery or both, reflecting a broader effort by Food Lion to expand omnichannel capabilities across its 10-state market, where it runs more than 1,100 stores. Food Lion is also bringing self-checkout terminals to all of the 29 remodeled locations, a change the company said was “inspired by feedback from customers and associates.”

Food Lion added in the press release that the stores will offer a variety of prepared meal options that are ready to eat, cook or heat. The locations are also gaining a larger assortment of organic, gluten-free and plant-based choices that includes products carrying the grocer’s Nature’s Promise private label.

The remodeling project at stores in and around Wilmington follows Food Lion’s recent completion of enhancements to 20 additional stores in the Carolinas, including six in the Charlotte, North Carolina, region, according to an April report by The Charlotte Observer. Over the past several years, Food Lion has remodeled hundreds of locations across the East Coast as it looks to boost sales and market share.