Food Lion Stores Undergo Major Renovations in North Carolina

$50M capital investment supports remodel of almost 30 stores in Wilmington area

5/9/2023

Remodeled Food Lion stores include new features for easy, fresh and affordable shopping.

On May 10, Food Lion will unveil 24 remodeled stores in Wilmington, N.C., featuring a new, easier shopping experience for customers. Five additional renovated store celebrations will soon follow. A capital investment exceeding $50 million supported the the nearly 30-store redesign project.

Store upgrades include an extensive product assortment with a specific focus on a variety of affordable and simple meal solutions that are ready to eat, ready to cook or ready to heat. Customers will have a greater number of healthy options and a large selection of organic, gluten-free and plant-based items to choose from, including Nature’s Promise, Food Lion’s store brand. The Local Goodness program will also ensure a wide variety of regional products sourced from local growers or manufacturers.

Inspired by feedback from customers and associates, all enhanced stores now feature self-checkout lanes. Keeping sustainability in mind, the stores also feature energy-efficient overhead LED lighting and refrigerated cases with doors. According to the company, the modern solutions impart ambiance, enhance fresh product assortment and reduce energy costs, helping reduce Food Lion’s environmental footprint.

The redesigned stores will also offer Food Lion To Go grocery pickup or home delivery service. Online orders may be placed on the Food Lion To Go website or the Food Lion To Go app.

“Food Lion has been a proud neighbor in the Wilmington community for 40 years,” said Meg Ham, president of Food Lion. “From a brand-new look and feel to more convenient grab-and-go items to make any meal easier, each store has made big changes with our customers in mind. We remain committed to keeping our prices low every day, offering great promotions and other opportunities to save. We are excited for our neighbors to experience the enhancements we have made just for them.”

Two dozen updated stores in Wilmington will open to the public on May 10, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 7:45 a.m. Afterward, the first 100 customers in line will receive a mystery gift card valued up to $250, a free reusable shopping bag and a trunk organizer.

Meanwhile, the grocer has also contributed $500,000 through its hunger relief platform, Food Lion Feeds, to support the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina at Wilmington. The investment supports the 3,000-square-foot commercial kitchen, the first to be operated by the nonprofit organization.

“With the cost of so many of the things we buy every day increasing, we need the support from our retail donors. Food Lion has been an incredible partner to food banks across their footprint,” said Beth Gaglione, branch director for the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina at Wilmington. “The food bank has been able to build a state-of-the-art new facility in Wilmington with an amazing commercial kitchen thanks to Food Lion Feeds. Now we need to fill it with nutritious, healthy food to meet the need of our community. We know we can count on our friends at Food Lion.”

In addition to expanded meal production, the community kitchen will offer an opportunity for culinary arts workforce development, providing qualified individuals from low- to moderate-income families to gain sought-after skills and find immediate job opportunities, thereby stabilizing their households and achieving self-sufficiency.

Food Lion Feeds also provided another $32,500 to support 13 partner feeding agencies with the purchase of refrigerators and freezers.

Additionally, each Food Lion store regularly donates unsold, edible food that might otherwise go to waste to local feeding agencies to support neighbors in need throughout the year. In 2022, the nearly 30 Wilmington-area stores provided approximately 1.9 million pounds of food to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.

Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion operates more than 1,100 stores with 82,000-plus associates. Its parent company, Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of Zaandam, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, is No. 10 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.