Friday, February 19, 2010
Food Lion rolls back prices on essentials
The grocery chain is lowering prices on milk, bread, produce and other products.
Associated Press | File 2003
Food Lion is rolling out price cuts for a range of private label and name brand items. The North Carolina-based grocer has 24 stores in the Roanoke and New River valleys.
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Consumers' appetite for frugality in the grocery aisle is driving Food Lion stores to cut prices on shopping list staples.
Price-slashing strategies are not new to some grocers, but North Carolina-based Food Lion is rolling out a broad cost-cutting initiative that's unlike past promotions.
The chain said this week that it has begun to lower prices on a wide assortment of products such as milk, bread, produce, juice, canned goods and detergent across the 1,169 stores that fly the Food Lion banner. There are 24 Food Lion stores in the Roanoke and New River valleys.
A shopper's total grocery bill could ring up to 25 percent to 30 percent less with these new discounts and Food Lion's MVP savings, said Christy Phillips-Brown, a spokeswoman for the grocer.
She would not disclose specific discounts on individual products. The promotion applies to the chain's private label and name brand items.
"Given the current economic environment ... we believe this is a valuable way to bring savings to our customers," Phillips-Brown said.
Despite the discounts, prices for some items may fluctuate because of special circumstances, such as weather conditions, she said.
Some management and distribution efficiencies have helped Food Lion lower prices for products, said Phillips-Brown, but she would not elaborate. Food Lion is a subsidiary of Brussels-based Delhaize Group.
A desire to compete with Wal-Mart has driven similar price-shaving strategies at grocers nationwide, said Meg Major, an editor at Progressive Grocer, a food industry publication in New York.
"It sends a strong message to consumers that they're very hungry to capture business," she said.
Plus, some grocery companies have renegotiated contracts with food companies this year because of price fluctuations, Major added.
Food Lion and Kroger are the grocery chains with the largest number of locations in the Roanoke and New River valleys. Kroger has 18 stores.
A Kroger spokesman was not available for comment Thursday about Food Lion's pricing strategy.
Food Lion began putting up signs in its stores this week to advertise the new prices. Special pricing tags also are attached to the discounted products.
