Food Lion closing all First Coast stores

[thelakelander]

More empty strip malls coming to a neighborhood near you:

All Food Lion stores on the First Coast, including a dozen in Jacksonville, are closing, company officials announced Wednesday night. The stores will be closed within 30 days, the company said.

Approximately 900 Florida employees of the chain will be affected with about 450 of those coming from Jacksonville locations, according to Food Lion spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown.

Stores in Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, Baker and Alachua counties are also closing. In addition, the Food Lion in Waycross is among the Georgia stores slated to be closed.

The company will convert its Food Lion in Lake City to a Harveys store. All of the other stores in Florida are closing.

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-01-11/story/food-lion-closing-all-first-coast-stores

[copperfiend]

The only Food Lion that I had found in the last ten years that was even worth going to was the one at Atlantic/San Pablo. And it went downhill quick. Last time I went there (about two years ago), I kept finding food on the shelves that way past it's expiration date. Yes, I know that this will cause more empty strip malls and loss of some jobs, but not a big loss in terms on the grocery business.

[tufsu1]

there's a brand new one in St. Augustine that will be closing....now that is stupid!

truth be told, I'm no fan of Food Lion....but it does/did provide an option for many....now they'll likely join the herd at Wal Mart!

[Bativac]

Really stinks. The employees were totally blindsided by this (my dad's wife being a longtime Food Lion worker).

The stores were pretty lousy though - the company tried an experiment with the Atlantic and San Pablo store. I guess it was a failed experiment.

Aren't they owned by an investment group or something?

[hightowerlover]

I haven't been to a Food Lion since it came out that they bleached their meat back in 97.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june97/lion_1-15.html

[fsujax]

more empty strip malls. Surburban blight expands. They are owned by some group out of Brussels.

[Debbie Thompson]

Started by ex Winn-Dixie employees, later sold to that overseas group.  I tried really hard to like Food Lion.  I worked for years for a real estate developer who leased to several Food Lion stores when they first came to the Jacksonville market. But try as I might, I just never did like them.

[FayeforCure]

more empty strip malls. Surburban blight expands. They are owned by some group out of Brussels.

I thought they were owned by a German company.

I frequently shop at the Food Lion in Julington Creek. Love the store!!


They seem really progressive and a no frills store.

I am sad to see them go 

Supermarket chain gets smarter about sustainable seafood

By Heather Clancy | August 2, 2010, 5:29 AM PDT


In mid-July, Delhaize America, which owns the Hannaford, Sweetbay, Food Lion and Bottom Dollar Food supermarkets, said it will require its seafood suppliers to verify that they source products locally from sources that use sustainable fishing practices. The thing that I find particularly interesting is that this policy applies not just to fresh fish, it also covers anything that is frozen. Here’s what one of the company’s corporate responsibility managers, George Parmenter, said in the press release:


“We want our shoppers to have confidence that seafood they buy from us is from fisheries that are viable and maintained for the future. The health of fisheries is important to us as a retailer, both fro the long-term product supply and for reducing the environmental impacts of products we sell.”

This particular topic is near and dear to my heart for three reasons:
1.Given my druthers, I could eat fish or seafood pretty much every day, except for the sort to which I am highly allergic (sadly, that is salmon and trout).
2.I used to be a member of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which has been distributing the Seafood Watch list for as long as I can personally remember (easily 10 years, and I think more).
3.I think I am not alone in saying that most Americans are really clued into seafood sourcing issues in the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf.

Delhaize is working with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute to develop its policy. The specifics of the policy include these principles, which apply to anything that is harvested from the wild.
•Keeping detailed harvest data, so that the company can ensure sourcing levels are within certain limits
•Coming up with restocking plans
•Maintaining active enforcement policies

When it comes to farm-raised fish and seafood, Delhaize will source products certified under the Best Aquaculture Practices program.

The policy is supposed to go into effect by March 31, 2011.

How do the major supermarket chains fare on the sustainable seafood issue? Of course, Greenpeace has a list of who is naughty and nice, in its estimation. The latest update, published at the end of April, shows Target at the top of the heap, followed by Wegmans and Whole Foods.

Delhaize is one of the companies that gets a passing grade, although none of the organization gets what Greenpeace designates as a “good” score.

The organization details the rationale for sustainable seafood policy in its ongoing Carting Away the Oceans report.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/business-brains/supermarket-chain-gets-smarter-about-sustainable-seafood/8993

[FayeforCure]

So I guess they are indeed owned by a group in Brussels:

http://www.delhaizegroup.com/en/Contacts.aspx

[duvaldude08]

I used to like Food Lion at one point. I shopped there ONLY from 2000-2003. Then I just lost interest. I havent stepped foot in a food lion in almost ten years. I go to Winn Dixie or Walmart. And Food Lions meat looks weird!

[Wacca Pilatka]

The Food Lions by me are generally pretty nice, and they are supportive of the charitable event I run, but I have been in some miserable ones.  I'd imagine it'd be hard for them to get a foothold in a Publix and W-D dominated world except maybe as a budget alternative, and Wal-Mart, Save A Lot, etc. can easily undercut them on the budget side.

[Lunican]

Twelve more dead strip malls in Jacksonville is definitely not good news.

[thelakelander]

Don't worry.  With the mobility fee moratorium we'll build ourselves out of this.  Just wait and see.

[Overstreet]

I guess the distribution warehouse in Green Cove will close if it hasn't already. 

[fsujax]

It has been closed for a while.