Delhaize America has made quite a few changes in recent months. The company announced back in January that it was closing 113 Food Lion stores, retiring its Bloom banner and converting Bloom and Bottom Dollar Food store locations in three states to Food Lion units.
At the time, Ron Hodge, president of Delhaize America, said the actions would help "our company to focus on our successful brand strategy repositioning at Food Lion." The company began its rebranding efforts last May in the Raleigh and Fayetteville, NC markets, as well as in Chattanooga, TN.
Now comes word that Food Lion's repositioning is progressing with the official launch of its new brand strategy in 268 stores in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Plans call for the strategy to be expanded to up to 700 Food Lions this year.
"We invite customers to visit their local Food Lion, where they will experience firsthand the enhancements we have made in our stores," said Cathy Green Burns, president of Food Lion, in a statement. "As part of our new strategy, we are committed to being recognized as a price leader, making our stores easier to shop, offering the greatest value in store brands and providing fresh produce."
Part of the new "price leader" image included Food Lion lowering prices on 6,000 items in its stores and pushing its tiered store brand lineup.
"We are very pleased with the reaction from our customers since we began rolling out our new brand strategy last year," Ms. Green Burns. "We look forward to winning new customers and continuing to serve our existing customers with enhanced Food Lion stores, and bringing the strategy to life in additional locations across our footprint later this year."
David Livingston, president of DJL Research and a RetailWire BrainTrust member, called Food Lion's rebranding "window dressing" in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"A lot of this is what others have already been doing," Mr. Livingston told the paper. "This is a lateral move."