Food Lion, Weis Markets and Winn-Dixie are just a few of the U.S. supermarket chains adding and remodeling stores despite the recession, giving seafood vendors potential markets in new cities.
For example, Food Lion, which is based in Salisbury, N.C., and owned by Delhaize Group of Belgium, will open three stores in New Castle County, Delaware, by year's end. The move marks the retailer's first foray into the Wilmington, Del., area.
"We anticipate opening a number of new Food Lion and Bloom stores this year, throughout our operating area," Food Lion spokeswoman Jennifer Speck told SeafoodSource. She declined to provide exact store numbers.
Starting next month, Food Lion stores will open in Claymont, New Castle, and Bear, Del. The Claymont store will be around 28,000 square feet, while the New Castle and Bear stores will be nearly 35,000 square feet. Each store has one eight-foot case for fresh, packaged seafood, which is typical for Food Lion stores.
Meanwhile, Weis Markets of Sunbury, Penn., is acquiring Binghamton, N.Y.-based Giant Markets' stores by the end of August. The acquisition will add 12 stores to Weis' roster of 154 stores in the Northeast. Weis also reported an 18.5 percent increase in second-quarter net income, driven by investments in its sales programs.
Winn-Dixie Stores of Jacksonville, Fla., also just finished remodeling stores and expanding seafood and other perishable departments in 51 of its stores in North Florida and South Georgia.
"While each stores is different, we have modified the seafood cases to increase the overall seafood merchandising space," said Joshua Whitton, Winn-Dixie communications manager. "The areas that see the largest increase in merchandising space are the self-serve and frozen [seafood] display cases."
July 26, 2009
U.S. East Coast retailers expand
