Dive Brief:
- Food Lion has finished a $365 million campaign to upgrade supermarkets it operates in North Carolina and Virginia, the grocery chain announced Monday.
- The Ahold Delhaize-owned chain plans to hold ribbon-cuttings at 167 refreshed stores in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, as well as the greater Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, area on Wednesday.
- The renovation project follows Food Lion’s completion last year of renovations to dozens of stores in other parts of North Carolina.
Dive Insight:
The store improvements Food Lion is showing off this week include e-commerce capabilities, upgraded lighting and refrigeration, and an expanded assortment of locally grown produce.
Food Lion noted that the upgraded produce selection available in the renovated stores will include about 25 seasonal items, such as cucumbers, melons and berries. The grocer said the investment also includes an “extensive product assortment” built around affordable meal solutions that are ready to eat, cook or heat. In addition, almost all the stores covered by the renovation effort gained self-checkout technology, Food Lion said.
The upgrades also include LED lighting as well as refrigerated cases with doors to save energy.
“Enhancements were made with our customers in mind. They’ll discover a refreshed look and feel, and more convenient grab-and-go items that make life easier,” Food Lion President Meg Ham said in the announcement.
Food Lion’s completion of the renovation project comes amid continued strong performance by the chain, which operates more than 1,100 stores across 10 states in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. The chain has posted comparable-store sales growth for 47 quarters in a row, Ahold Delhaize President and CEO Frans Muller said during the grocery company’s second-quarter earnings call last month.
