FoodLion

[gfweb]

We are getting a Food Lion opening in a month. It sounds unpromising just from the name. 

 

Is is it a decent supermarket.?  

 

Where is it in the spectrum of Acme/Giant/Wegmans?

[Kim Shook]

Personally, I like Food Lion a lot.  They are usually smaller than the other chains and I get truly personal service at mine.  I have gotten to the point that I buy all of my day-to-day deli items there.  They always have Fiorucci hard salami (Mr. Kim's favorite) in stock and I really love their store brand Off the Bone ham.  I find their produce better than either Kroger or Publix most of the time.  I find the prices competitive and, even though they are small, I can do the majority of my shopping there.  They do not have the spectacular deli/cheese/bakery items that you find at Wegman's and very few specialty items.  It totally depends on how you cook, of course and stores may vary by area (when I am in NC, I find things there that I can't find here).  

[gfweb]

Thanks @Kim ShookHow are their meats?

[cdh]

 I'm getting a Lidl in my corner of Philaburbia... Never experienced them... taking over the abandoned corpse of an Acme. Hope they are Aldi+

[Kim Shook]

3 hours ago, gfweb said:

Thanks @Kim ShookHow are their meats?

Better than you might expect.  FL got a lot of bad press some years ago about their meat/poultry.  Some of the stores, at least, were changing expiration dates and selling bad meat.  I think that the exposure about that really caused them to make changes.  At the stores I shop at, I find the quality very good and very clean.  I even find some cuts there that I can't always find everywhere else.  

[btbyrd]

I was born and currently live about 30 minutes from Food Lion's corporate headquarters in NC. In my experience, they're inferior to every other major grocer in my region. Whenever I enter a Food Lion it feels like I'm going back in time. And not in a charming way. Each week, I shop at a variety of  grocery stores in accordance with their comparative virtues... Harris Teeter, Whole Foods, Publix, Trader Joe's, and Walmart are my primaries, but others are sometimes also in the mix if I'm in the neighborhood. There are four Food Lions in this geographic region, and I frequent none of them. They all feel like a giant step down compared to the competition. Food Lion's primary marketing strategy over the years has been to compete on the basis of price. The only things going for it are the occasional weekly sale items on processed food items (corn-wheat-soy soda/snacks/garbage). None of the Food Lions in my area have a decent produce section, and I'd never purchase meat (or seafood) from someone who can't be bothered to properly sell vegetables. And there was a scandal about Food Lion and food safety from the 90's that I'm old enough to remember. While that's some old news, the Food Lions 'round my parts haven't stepped up their game enough in the subsequent 2.5 decades to gain my trust. 

 

The Internet reports that Food Lion operates in 10 states. Perhaps things are different in far away lands, but here on the homefront, things are rather dismal. I know this isn't the case in all markets. I've been to some decent Food Lions up in the mountains where the local Food Lion is basically the only store in town. But in my neck of the woods, which is also Food Lion's neck of the woods, they're kind of a horrorshow.

[Kim Shook]

@gfweb -  I cook pretty low-end.  Fairly ordinary stuff.  Because of that, you might find that @btbyrd's assessment of FL more helpful than mine.  

[donk79]

FlL is pretty dominant around me.  They definitely aim for the lower end market, though some renovations I have seen recently suggest they are starting to aim higher.  And they are not entirely bottom of the market.  I have a local grocery near me that has a few good highlights, and local character going for it.  When I want more, like a chance at decently fresh fruit, I spend 20 more minutes on the road to go to Food Lion.  When I want good fruit, I spend 40 more minutes on the road to go to Martin's (Giant).

 

I am eagerly waiting for for the day that Wegmans or Trader Joe's is less than an hour away.

Edited February 18, 2019 by donk79 (log)