Food Lion upgrades 47 stores across North Carolina
With a $77 million capital investment, Food Lion has enhanced the customer shopping experience with remodeled stores in Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern, N.C.
On Aug. 2, Food Lion will hold ribbon-cutting events at 47 stores in the Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern area. In addition to providing an easier shopping experience, Food Lion also is supporting the towns and cities it serves by collaborating with local organizations to address food insecurity and nourish neighbors experiencing hunger.
The investment includes an extensive product assortment with a specific focus on a variety of affordable and easy meal solutions that are ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook or ready-to-heat. The enhancements also feature eCommerce options across all stores through pickup or home delivery and energy-efficient overhead LED lighting and refrigerated cases with doors. Inspired by customer and associate feedback, most stores are introducing self-checkout lanes for an enhanced and efficient shopping experience, allowing customers to choose to check out with a cashier or by themselves.
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Additionally, there was a focus on training and developing associates to provide the best customer experience. While renovating and refreshing its look, the modernized stores reflect Food Lion’s continued commitment to the towns and cities it serves, providing an easy, fresh and affordable shopping experience.
“Food Lion has been a proud neighbor in the Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern communities for 43 years,” said Meg Ham, president of Food Lion. “We’re excited to welcome our neighbors in these towns and cities into their fresh, new Food Lion. These remodels also reflect our ongoing commitment to invest in the growth and development of our associates so they can provide a shopping experience customers can count on. 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, so they can nourish their families affordably and make life a little easier.”
On Aug. 2, the newly remodeled stores will hold 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, free reusable shopping bag and trunk organizer.
Store upgrades include an extensive product assortment, including fresh produce, quality meats and many other products to meet individual and family needs with a specific focus on a variety of affordable and easy meal solutions that are ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook or ready-to-heat. Customers also will have more healthy options and a large selection of organic, gluten-free and plant-based items to choose from including Nature’s Promise, Food Lion’s affordable brand of wholesome and organic products made with no artificial flavors, preservatives or synthetic colors.
Through its Local Goodness program, Food Lion stores offer a wide variety of regional items sourced from local growers or manufacturers, serving customers in a more meaningful way with products that are the heart and soul of the community. A list of additional North Carolina-based suppliers that may be featured in the store can be found online.
Food Lion’s enhancements also include offering convenience for shoppers by featuring an eCommerce solution in all stores including Food Lion To Go grocery pickup and/or home delivery options. Online orders may be placed on the Food Lion To Go website or the Food Lion To Go app. The convenient service allows customers to place an order with the click of a button while experiencing the same low prices and fresh food items they receive in the store.
Demonstrating care for its neighbors and communities with a commitment to sustainability, Food Lion’s enhanced stores feature energy-efficient overhead LED lighting and refrigerated cases with doors. The modern solutions impart ambiance, enhance fresh product assortment and reduce energy costs, helping reduce Food Lion’s environmental footprint.
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Working in partnership to help address food insecurity, Food Lion has contributed $150,000 through its hunger-relief platform, Food Lion Feeds, to benefit East Carolina University and its Farm-to-Clinic initiative. The partnership supports a mobile teaching kitchen and food distribution unit specifically designed to improve access to healthy food and support improved nutrition and health for uninsured, low-income diabetes patients in rural eastern North Carolina.
The investment funded the construction of a mobile teaching kitchen with the necessary equipment and space for cooking. This allows ECU students to guide patient participants to learn food skills while enabling them to provide fresh, local produce to patients directly. The unit has been fabricated with two commercial fridges, shelving, sinks, spaces for food preparation and cooking and extensive storage for educational supplies and kits.
“The mission of East Carolina University’s Farm-to-Clinic aligns with Food Lion Feeds and we are thrilled to have the mobile teaching kitchen on the road this year to combat food insecurity and health disparities in rural, eastern North Carolina together,” said Lauren Sastre, assistant professor and Farm-to-Clinic program director at East Carolina University.
Food Lion Feeds and ECU are committed to nourishing neighbors and families, setting them up for success in life. In addition to providing access to nutritious food, the mobile food pantry and teaching kitchen encourage clients to make healthy lifestyle choices to achieve sustained health through hands-on cooking and nutrition education.
By participating in meaningful community efforts in the towns and cities it serves, Food Lion Feeds also is helping to address critical needs by working with partner feeding agencies, including the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. The hunger-relief platform is providing $74,000 to the Greenville and New Bern branches to support the purchase of equipment for agency-related capacity building, enabling its community partners to respond to the increased demand for families experiencing hunger. With an additional $500,000 investment from Food Lion Feeds, the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina opened its first 3,000-sq.-ft. commercial kitchen in Wilmington, N.C. The community kitchen helps low-to-moderate-income families gain sought-after culinary skills and find immediate job opportunities, which will help stabilize their households. In addition, the kitchen also will be used to make the Cape Fear region more resilient during times of disaster with the ability to produce more than 5,000 meals a day to feed first responders or individuals and families living in shelters.
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. Food Lion was the first grocery retailer in the country to establish a food rescue program with Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, more than 20 years ago. In 2022, Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern stores provided more than 2.3 million pounds through food rescue to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and Food Bank of the Albemarle.
Through Food Lion Feeds, Food Lion has helped to provide more than 1 billion meals to individuals and families since 2014 and has committed to donating 1.5 billion meals by 2025.