SALISBURY, N.C. – Food Lion has ribbon-cutting events scheduled for August 2 at 47 remodeled stores in three North Carolina markets – Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern.
The store upgrades are the product of a $77 million investment to create an easier shopping experience for customers and addressing food insecurity in the communities, the company said.
“Food Lion has been a proud neighbor in the Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern communities for 43 years,” Meg Ham, president, Food Lion, said in a press release. “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.”
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 e-commerce options across all stores through pickup or home delivery and energy-efficient overhead LED lighting and refrigerated cases with doors, according to the company.
A variety of affordable and easy meal solutions
Store upgrades include 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. Customers will also 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, Food Lion said.
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. 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’s enhancements also include offering convenience for shoppers by featuring an e-commerce solution in all stores including Food Lion To Go grocery pickup and/or home delivery options.
Helping reduce Food Lion’s environmental footprint
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.
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 R. Sastre, assistant professor and Farm-to-Clinic program director, 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 encourages 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 is also helping to address critical needs by working with partner feeding agencies, including the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.
Making communities more resilient
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-square-foot 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 will also 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 donate 1.5 billion meals by 2025.
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