Content about Food Lion

New York -- Cathy Green Burns, president of Food Lion, has left the company and is being succeeded by Beth Newlands Campbell as part of a major organizational shakeup at Delhaize America, according to published reports. Delhaize America is a division of Brussels-based Delhaize Group. Campbell previously served as president of Hannaford Supermarkets.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Food Lion on Wednesday expanded its new brand strategy to 269 stores in North Carolina and South Carolina. With the expansion, Food Lion has more than 700 locations operating under rebranding, representing more than 60% of its store base. 

The new strategy offers customers lower prices on 6,000 items, a greater emphasis on private brands,  enhanced produce and an easy and convenient shopping experience, such as faster checkout. To support its new strategy, the company created approximately 800 new jobs.

Brussels -- Belgian supermarket operator Delhaize Group, which operates the Food Lion, Bottom Dollar Food, Harveys, Hannaford Supermarkets, Reid's and Sweetbay regional banners in the United States, said Thursday it will close 113 Food Lion stores and eliminate the Bloom banner as part of a reorganization. The Fool Lion stores slated for closure are primarily in markets in which the company has the least store density.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Food Lion said Tuesday that two of its stores in Fayetteville, N.C., have been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certifications by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The green grocery stores feature a number of environmentally friendly construction and energy-efficient services, including an on-site recycling center, an educational kiosk and preferred parking for carpool vehicles.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Grocery chain Food Lion said Tuesday that two of its stores have earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2011 Gold-Level GreenChill Store Certification Award, one of the agency's highest honors for refrigeration.

The stores are located in Conyers, Ga., and in Columbia, S.C.

Food Lion became a founding partner with the EPA's GreenChill program in 2007. Since that time, the grocer joined other food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease impact on the ozone layer and climate change. Food Lion has won GreenChill's Distinguished Partner Award and its Superior Environmental Achievement Award in the past.

"Our company is committed to going beyond simply reducing refrigerants," said Susan Sollenberger, director of energy, maintenance and equipment purchasing at Delhaize America South. "In addition to reducing emissions through the EPA's GreenChill partnership, we continue to look for new environmentally-friendly technologies and increase the amount of stores that are also Energy Star certified."

Food Lion has more than half of the nation's Energy Star stores, with 1,015 certified stores. In addition, the company has partnered with utilities to evaluate a variety of energy saving opportunities, such as solar power. 

New York City -- NCR is adding 800 Blockbuster Express kiosks to Food Lion grocery stores despite litigation over the Blockbuster Express trademark with Blockbuster and Dish Network Corp., which bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy in late April.

The kiosks will be added to Food Lions across the mid-Atlantic and southeastern U.S. regions.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Delhaize America said Monday it plans to convert all of its Bloom stores in North and South Carolina to the Food Lion banner, with the exception of one Bloom store in Mauldin, S.C., that will close.

According to a report by Supermarket News, the 15 Bloom locations in the Charlotte and Greenville, S.C., markets will be converted "as quickly as possible."

Belgium -- Belgian supermarket operator Delhaize Group said Thursday it plans to spend $1.21 billion opening new stores and remodeling existing outlets.

According to a report by Wall Street Journal, Delhaize, which operates mainly under the U.S. Food Lion, Hannaford and Sweet Bay banners, is making the investments despite a fourth quarter same-store sales decline of 0.8%.

Amsterdam -- Delhaize Group reported Wednesday that its third-quarter net profit rose 10% to $193 million, compared with a profit of $176 million in the year-ago period. Excluding currency effects, profit rose 2.7%.

The Belgian supermarket operator attributed the improvements to a stronger dollar against the euro, but also warned the retail environment in the United States remains challenging.

Revenue rose to $7.3 billion from $6.7 billion a year earlier.