Winston-Salem, N.C.-Area Grocery Stores Open

By Fran Daniel, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Oct. 18–Three former Bi-Lo supermarkets in the Triad will officially open as Southern Family Markets on Wednesday.

The stores are on Clemmons Road in Clemmons, on Valley Road in Mocksville and on West Clemmonsville Road in Winston-Salem.

Southern Family Markets based in Birmingham, Ala., is a subsidiary of C&S Wholesale Grocers, one of the largest food distributors in the country. Piggly Wiggly, also an affiliate of C&S, is its sister company.

The supermarket chain opened its first store July 28 in Oneonta, Ala. It entered the North Carolina market in August, and plans to open the bulk of its stores, a total of 15 former Bi-Lo’s, in the state this month.

Ken Feher, the district manager for the chain’s North Carolina division, said yesterday that the company offered jobs to all Bi-Lo employees.

“We’ve got an extremely re-energized and very positive work force,” he said.

Frank Curci, the chief operating officer for Southern Family Markets, said in a statement that the company hopes to significantly improve the shopping experience for customers in the greater Winston-Salem area and across North Carolina.

“An example is our ’200 percent guarantee’ on all our perishable food products such as our fresh produce, meats, seafood, and deli/bakery items,” he said. ” If customers aren’t completely satisfied with these products, we’ll double their money back — no questions, no hassles, no problem.”

Ken Feher, the district manager for the chain’s North Carolina division, said yesterday that every store is being accessed for potential improvements, including renovations, and is under review.

Bi-Lo said in May that it was leaving the Triad market to focus on markets where it has the No. 1 and No. 2 position, or could reach that position in a reasonable amount of time or had an opportunity for significant growth.

Southern Family Markets has just 17 stores in the state, but the company said it plans to be competitive as a traditional supermarket.

“We’re going to have a much more focused marketing strategy that will be tailor-made to provide more focus on the customers’ needs in this market,” Feher said.

He said that the chain will offer competitive prices and do a better job of serving local customers.

“One of the big differences that customers are going to see over a period of time is that although we are a chain, we are going to give much more autonomy to the local management team to do things for their local neighborhood customers — for example, adding variety and adding additional services,” Feher said.

He said that the chain intends to learn the likes and dislikes of customers so that it can improve its offerings.

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