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Food Lion Tests Discount Grocery Stores in Winston Salem, N.C., Area

Posted on: Wednesday, 2 November 2005, 18:00 CST

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

Nov. 3--Food Lion LLC is testing three discount-grocery stores in the Triad.

The supermarket chain opened the first of its pilot stores called Bottom Dollar Food on East Kivett Drive in High Point in September. The other stores opened in Mount Airy and Asheboro last month.

The Bottom Dollar concept focuses on offering customers about 6,500 national brands and private-label products, fresh produce and meats at discount prices in an upbeat shopping environment.

The number of products is more limited than those offered at the traditional Food Lion stores, it said, but Bottom Dollar offers more products that those at typical discount stores.

The company said it created the concept by streamlining services and procedures and passing the savings on to customers.

Many items are prepackaged. In fact, Bottom Dollar doesn't have a deli/bakery on site but carries 110 deli/bakery products.

Instead of expensive displays, the store uses cases on shelves, pallets and dump bins.

Customers bag their own groceries; they can buy bags, but are offered free boxes.

The store has a "Bottom Bargains" section in the center that includes market overruns and seasonal items.

Kenneth Herbst, an assistant professor of marketing at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., said that Food Lion's Bottom Dollar concept is a good strategic move in terms of filling the needs of an underserved segment of the population.

"With the Bottom Dollar concept, Food Lion is offering an opportunity to purchase items at very competitive prices by cutting out the bells and whistles commonly found at other supermarkets," he said.

The only other supermarket chain that offers local no-frills service is Aldi. Unlike Bottom Dollar, Aldi mostly offers private-label brands.

Karen Peterson, a spokeswoman for Bottom Dollar, said that Food Lion periodically looks at different opportunities and different concepts.

"We have our traditional Food Lion stores and Bottom Dollar is another way to go to market, if you will, to reach perhaps a different type of consumer who would be interested in this type of shopping experience."

Last year, Food Lion opened five Bloom concept stores in the Charlotte area. The chain plans to expand those stores in 2006. A major feature at Bloom is technology, including personal scanners -- small hand-held devices that customers can use to scan and bag their groceries as they shop.

While Bottom Dollar offers a "no frills" philosophy with streamlined services and operations aimed at passing savings on to customers, Bloom offers more services, Peterson said.

For example, Bloom has a Taste Ambassador, an employee who samples product and is available to provide assistance to customers who are looking for menu solutions and recipes.

Bottom Dollar stores are bright with a lot of lights and orange and lime green colors. As part of the company's concentration on a cheerful format, there are humorous signs throughout the store, including, "Food prices that kick bottom," and "Watch your step...you might trip on the low prices." Employees wear shirts that read, "I'm a black belt in price chopping."

"We wanted to make shopping at Bottom Dollar fun and enjoyable," said Jeff Lowrance, a spokesman for Food Lion.

Lowrance said that Food Lion is pleased with the positive response it is receiving from customers at all three Bottom Dollar stores.

"If it proves as successful as we think it will, in time we'll look at growing the brand," he said.

David Barr, the brand manager for the High Point Bottom Dollar, said his store attracts a diversity of shoppers, people from all walks of life, and different economic and cultural backgrounds.

The community has really accepted it," he said.

Vickie Alexander of Thomasville has shopped in the store three times and wants a Bottom Dollar closer to her home. She said yesterday that employees at the High Point store are helpful and she likes its layout and spacious aisles.

"I have been in stores where it was hard to get the buggy through," she said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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DEG, DELB,

Source: Winston-Salem Journal

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