Food Lion Store Closings: Supermarket Chain To Close More Than 100 Stores, Slash Thousands Of Jobs

BRUSSELS -- A Belgian supermarket chain that owns Food Lion said Thursday it will close more than 100 struggling stores, mostly in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The company will also shutter the Bloom brand, a sister grocery chain that had been launched as a higher-end alternative to Food Lion.

Pierre-Olivier Beckers, CEO of Delhaize Group, said in a statement the company was dealing with tight consumer spending and increased competition. He said that the store closings, most of which will come in markets where the company has a low penetration, will allow it to focus on better-performing stores where the chain has greater market share.

The store closings will result in about 4,900 job cuts in the U.S., the company said. Beckers said the decisions were difficult but "were in keeping with our responsibility to our shareholders to deploy resources where they will achieve the highest return."

Delhaize will close 113 Food Lion stores in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. It will close seven Bloom stores in Maryland and Virginia, and convert the remaining 42 Bloom stores to Food Lions.

It will also close six Bottom Dollar Food stores in North Carolina and Virginia, and convert 22 others into Food Lions. A distribution center located in Tennessee will also be closed.

But while Delhaize is retiring the Bloom brand, it says it sees promise for Bottom Dollar Food. It said the chain had enjoyed "considerable success" in the Philadelphia area, and that it planned to open its first stores in the Pittsburgh area early this year. Delhaize also reiterated that it plans to add "hundreds" of Bottom Dollar Food stores in the next five years.

Delhaize has about 1,650 stores in the Eastern U.S.

Comments

[graymalkin2001]

03:50 PM on 01/29/2012

With over-production and disposal of six to thirty 40-60# cases of meat per store per week in the Roanoke area, I'm surprised any of them can afford to stay in business. Sure, it goes to food banks where it is sold to agencies, but 28# of steaks per week per family? Seems either "the hungry" are eating better than the rest of us, or agency volunteers have overflowing home freezers!

[wlkcrk]

11:28 PM on 01/16/2012

If you have a chance to shop the same brand store in a low income neighborhood and then go purchase the same products in a high income area. The quality follows income. Low quality in low areas and high quality in high income areas.
The first time I understood this was when I moved into a low income area and the store's produce appeared to be much less quality than the other.

[KadejaLatefah]

05:02 PM on 01/16/2012

Delhaize has about 1,650 stores in the Eastern U.S. find out which they are and stop shopping there. shop at a grocery owned by an american company - don't say they aren't out there - try whole foods, trader joe's, giant etc

[The JillyBean]

07:12 PM on 01/16/2012

Whole Foods is terrible. The deli food always tasted like it was expired. The produce always wilted quickly. It's a sham of a organics/health food store and most of it is only USDA grade organic. No wonder it was from Texas.

Farmers markets are generally better, provided they are food actually grown locally. Trader Joes is decent.

[KadejaLatefah]

09:08 PM on 01/16/2012

i have shopped in whole foods all over the usa and never had that experience. shocking. of course produce is best when used within a day or 2 even from the farmer's market.

[SueEll]

04:56 PM on 01/16/2012

Not to worry. Sam Walton and his heirs have it all figured out. Soon he'll be providing top-notch food for all of us.

[KadejaLatefah]

05:02 PM on 01/16/2012

providing you don't mind it being 'made' in china

[SueEll]

04:52 PM on 01/16/2012

"Bottom Dollar Food" doesn't sound very appealing. What now, we'll have top end and bottom end grocery stores?

[DebtNavigation]

02:57 PM on 01/16/2012

Lions thrive on rotten meat. Likewise ABC went undercover in Food Lion more than a decade ago and caught 'em repackaging expired meat products and putting them back out for sale. Lawsuits ensued, instead of Food Lion taking its drubbing quietly. People stay away from Food Lions in droves, if for no other reason than the dim lighting makes the parking lot dangerous at night.

Food Lion could easily have competed well against other stores. They simply chose to cut corners.

[SueEll]

04:54 PM on 01/16/2012

They'll just sell it at the "Bottom Dollar". Sounds like they didn't strive to improve, just gave in.

[KadejaLatefah]

05:04 PM on 01/16/2012

so it's a good thing...

[spinotter11]

06:29 PM on 01/15/2012

Bottom Dollar is a terrible name for a store, IMHO. All I can think of all the bottom feeders in the ocean.

[Gonz0]

03:25 PM on 01/15/2012

"were in keeping with our responsibility to our shareholders to deploy resources where they will achieve the highest return." And there ya have it folks.

[spinotter11]

06:30 PM on 01/15/2012

Is this or is it not the responsibility of management?

[DannyMcDance]

08:50 AM on 01/16/2012

Are they supposed to run a company that loses money? How long can they do that before everyone is unemployed?

[KadejaLatefah]

05:05 PM on 01/16/2012

someone mentioned they repackaged old meat and resold it. that is also what companies think they can do to get away with making more $ for the shareholders

[ming099]

11:46 AM on 01/15/2012

..I think this is a symptom of getting too big, trying to cover all the markets and monopolize the industry....case in point.....the Outer Banks of North Carolina........there is a Food Lion every mile or so....and in Virginia...most towns...even the smaller ones boast at least two Food Lion stores......I understand trying to cover the market but when you put TWO stores in one place and NEITHER of them do well....close one and see how the other does alone.....don't take all the jobs at once....

[Mailman]

10:35 AM on 01/15/2012

This how capitalism works. If people shop at your store you make money, if they don't then, then you go out of business. This how our system works when the government isn't try to run things.

[The JillyBean]

09:19 PM on 01/16/2012

That is how it works when the companies don't blackmail the government into BAILOUTS! We had "too big to fail" crammed down our throats. And in spite of our very loud protests against the bail outs, stupid Bush and Obama gave them out like candy. I could be just as happy with GM, Chrysler, BofA, Citibank, etc all out of business. They were and continue to be toxic.

[Peguy]

08:38 AM on 01/15/2012

This is just part of the real world of the grocery business. Here in South Texas, HEB has been forcing Skaggs out ... grocery is a low gross profit industry, and so the companies with the best distribution and trucking network are the ones that win the battle. HEB got their leg up when they were a "Baptist owned" tax exempt organization in their early days.... making it almost impossible for other grocery companies to compete in this area.

Gone are the days of the small independent grocer. The big box stores are crowding into the market... with their "super stores"... so that they can pump up their gross profit with higher gross items like electronics, etc.

Sad to lose the jobs... but not a surprise in this kind of market.

[kenmcc2]

07:30 AM on 01/15/2012

Rise up lefties! Blame some fat cat for this sad tale! Further demonstrate your complete lack of understanding of how the economy works.

While on other pages Romney is being depicted as a vulture and an amoral destroyer of companies and lives, this story is in actuality the real world situation. A struggling compamny on the brink of failure either resorts to a complete re engineering, including job losses, or it fails completely and everyone is let go. Such a "makeover" is exactly what Bain and Romney did and it a vital part of the ongoing creative evolution in our complex and changing economy.

[Peguy]

08:24 AM on 01/15/2012

My guess is that you have very little understanding of the grocery business, the margins, the competition... but rant on... this has nothing to do with companies like Bain.

[kenmcc2]

09:19 AM on 01/15/2012

My comments are not about the grocery, or any individual business, they are about the overall universe of healthy, uptrending companies Vs failing, down trending ones and they are spot on. Yes the grocery business in not exactly the same as others but there are uptrending companies in it (aka Whole Foods) and there are poorly manage downtrending ones like this one. Stand back, widen your perspective and try to understand.....

[billnbstn]

08:33 AM on 01/15/2012

Ken, you clown, before you start to carry Mitt on your shoulders as the Savior of the free enterprise system, keep in mind that he destroyed more jobs than he ever created.
And please, before you comment so pitifully, read the story. Delhaize is not some struggling company, overburdened with regulations and taxes. They're one of the biggest grocery corporations in the world, headquartered in Brussels.
I blame their mismanagement for these closures.

[kenmcc2]

09:21 AM on 01/15/2012

Their business is failing. Period. Any failure of a business is rooted in the inability of management to navigate through the business environment in which they operate. That's why a company like Bain serves a very useful purpose in injecting new funds and new management into failing companies.

[rightasrain]

06:53 AM on 01/15/2012

I clicked through the pictures and what sad ones they are. Can you imagine how much love and laughter once rang from those halls? The once stately 3 story townhomes had to be such happy places where kids rode bikes down the streets, walked to school together and probably love storys began. And the craftsmanship of these! The work places where deep friendships continued long after locks were placed on the doors. Very, very sad.

[spinotter11]

06:32 PM on 01/15/2012

Same article the rest of us are commenting about?

[Bobinfl]

06:34 AM on 01/15/2012

If I remember right, this is the same store that 20/20 did a story on about 20 years ago. They had hidden cameras & caught employs soaking rotten chicken in lemon so it wouldn't smell & sold old meat packaged as Bar B Q specials. I would have thought they'd been gone a long time ago.

[rightasrain]

06:45 AM on 01/15/2012

I think you're correct. I remember all too well my daughter shopped there and they had seveal bouts of "stomach viruses" until she went to another chain.

[Michael Shepdog]

07:51 AM on 01/15/2012

I remember peopel dying from the bad food they sold in the late 1070s. And agree with you, I honestly thoght this franchise was gone.

[spinotter11]

06:33 PM on 01/15/2012

Well, in the 1070's we were just getting used to the Norman Invasion and we didn't have any time for health regulations.

[Wake Up Call]

05:34 AM on 01/15/2012

The smaller chains get wiped out by the larger corporations. Forget the independent grocer these days. Ha! That's the guy who died a horrible death 30 years ago. Soon you'll have Kroger/Ralph (same company) as a monopoly. Enjoy your "freedom", fools.

[J D Drew]

06:05 AM on 01/15/2012

The solution to the " big chains " is to shop local in the small stores. Nobody twists the consumers arm making them shop the chains . We are doing it to ourselves. I realize it is not always easy but if would buy what they can from their small local merchants we would win in the long run.

[Gizmo9]

08:50 AM on 01/15/2012

Its a Catch22 the large chains can give you the big discounts that the mom+pop can't But i do shop in my neighborhood as much as I can for it to prosper but for certain items I do buy in the larger stores to take advantage of the low prices they offer.

[kenmcc2]

07:35 AM on 01/15/2012

Ummm...how does a company with 1650 stores here and many more around the world qualify as "smaller?"

[KadejaLatefah]

05:09 PM on 01/16/2012

grocery stores are BIG business