Bottom Dollar Food Enters Greater Philly Market

Bottom Dollar Food, The Delhaize Group’s soft-discount grocery format, has bowed its first Philadelphia-area store, in the suburb of King of Prussia, Pa. The 19,000 square-foot store, which opened Friday, carries more than 6,800 value-priced items. The banner’s best-price guarantee says it will beat any competitor's price on the same item by a penny.

According to Meg Ham, president of Salisbury, N.C.-based Bottom Dollar Food: “Customers will find Bottom Dollar Food unique because we carry national and private products, and offer outstanding quality produce, meat and other products. We offer the best prices on groceries in the market and provide our customers a friendly, fun and lighthearted shopping experience.”

Ham went on to discuss the banner’s reason for entering the greater Philadelphia region. “Bottom Dollar Food has great potential in this market because we believe it is underserved in the soft-discount grocer arena,” she noted. “As we continue to expand in the market, we believe customers will enjoy shopping at our stores and we will win new business through our customer-friendly approach and value we offer customers.”

The chain plans to open 15 to 20 stores by the end of 2010 in the market, creating more than 600 jobs in the process. Future locations are slated to debut in Bensalem Township; Valley Township; East Caln; Penndel; Allentown; Willow Grove; North Wales; Norristown; Chalfont; Turnersville; Pottstown; Exeter Township; Marlton, N.J.; Lower Southampton; Philadelphia, Lansdowne; and Cherry Hill, N.J.

“We are very fortunate to have a strong emerging banner that we can continue to grow in new markets,” Ham said of Bottom Dollar Food, which opened its first store in High Point, N.C., in 2005 and has now operates 29 locations in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and now Pennsylvania.

To mark the grand opening of the King of Prussia store, Bottom Dollar Food donated $10,000 to the Philabundance Food Bank, and $500 each to the Upper Merion Township Police Department and Fire Department, the Upper Merion Township Emergency Fund, and Lafayette Ambulance and Rescue Squad.