With a $77 million capital investment, Food Lion has upgraded several stores across North Carolina.
On Aug. 2, the Salisbury, North Carolina-based retailer will hold ribbon-cutting events at 47 stores in the Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern area.
Afterward, the first 100 customers in line will receive a mystery gift card valued up to $250, a free reusable shopping bag and trunk organizer.
“Food Lion has been a proud neighbor in the Greenville, Jacksonville and New Bern communities for 43 years,” said Meg Ham, president.
“These remodels…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.”
Remodeled stores include new features
Store upgrades include an extensive product assortment, including fresh produce, quality meats and many other products to meet individual and family needs. The expanded assortment includes a specific focus on a variety of ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook or ready-to-heat meal solutions.
Customers also will have increased healthy options and a large selection of organic, gluten-free and plant-based items to choose from, including Nature’s Promise, Food Lion’s brand of organic products made with no artificial flavors, preservatives or synthetic colors.
The enhancements also feature e-commerce options across all stores through Food Lion To Go grocery pickup and/or home delivery options and 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 its environmental footprint.
Online orders may be placed on the Food Lion To Go website or the Food Lion To Go app. The 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.
Based on customer and employee feedback, most stores are introducing self-checkout lanes, allowing customers to choose to check out with a cashier or by themselves.
Through its Local Goodness program, Food Lion stores offer a variety of regional items sourced from local growers or manufacturers. A list of additional North Carolina-based suppliers that may be featured in the store can be found online.
Food Lion Feeds supports mobile teaching kitchen, partner food bank
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 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 equipment and space for cooking. This allows ECU students to guide patient participants to learn food skills while providing them fresh, local produce.
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.
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.
The hunger-relief platform is also providing $74,000 to the Greenville and New Bern branches of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina to support the purchase of equipment for agency-related capacity building.
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.
The community kitchen helps low-to-moderate-income families gain culinary skills and find job opportunities. 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 for those in need.
