Food Lion Opening 3 Norfolk, Va.-Area Stores
On May 9, Food Lion will open three former Farm Fresh stores it purchased earlier this year from Supervalu in the greater Norfolk, Va., market. The locations are in Virginia Beach and Hampton, Va., and Elizabeth City, N.C. Each new Food Lion store will employ about 100 associates, creating a total of about 300 jobs in the area.
Each location will open to the public at 8 a.m. on May 9, after a 7:45 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony. The first 100 customers in line at each store will get a free tote bag and a mystery gift card worth between $5 and $200.
“Food Lion has been a proud member of the Norfolk community for nearly 40 years, and we are excited to offer even more customers an easy, fresh and affordable shopping experience,” said Rick LaCroix, SVP, Southern division. “We look forward to bringing an expanded assortment of quality, fresh products to our customers, while keeping the low prices they expect from Food Lion. We are excited to welcome the community into our newest stores.”
The stores will offer in-store pharmacies; greater offerings in the deli department, including hand-battered chicken, a selection of grab-and-go meals, and salad and wing bars; and a produce section with a larger number of organic options, as well as fresh-cut fruits and vegetables prepared in-house daily.
To mark the occasion, Food Lion will donate the equivalent of 30,000 meals to each store’s partner food pantry: Freedom Fellowship Food Pantry, in Virginia Beach; Buckroe Baptist Church food pantry, in Hampton; and Albemarle Food Pantry, in Elizabeth City. These efforts are part of the grocer's commitment to donating 500 million meals by 2020 through its hunger-relief platform, Food Lion Feeds.
The Virginia Beach store will be open daily from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. while the Hampton and Elizabeth City locations will be open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.
Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion has more than 1,000 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, and employs more than 63,000 associates. Food Lion is a company of Ahold Delhaize USA, the U.S. division of Zaandam-based Royal Ahold Delhaize.