Food Lion Goes Green in South Carolina

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Dec 18th 2009 @ 3:00PM

Few publicists instruct reporters to destroy their press releases. But in keeping with Food Lion's roll-out of what it is billing as its "first environmentally friendly grocery store," spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown issued materials printed on paper saturated with seeds.

"You tear it up, put it in soil and it grows," Phillips-Brown says.

Food Lion is counting on its green grocery in Columbia, S.C., to blossom, too. The store -- the first supermarket in the state built according to LEED Silver Certification standards -- is a major element in Food Lion's ongoing attempt to rehabilitate its image.

"Certainly we want to serve our customers," Philips-Brown says of the project. "But it's more about being a good corporate citizen."

Founded as Food Town in 1957, Food Lion grew from a one-store operation in Salisbury, N.C., to a 1,200-store regional empire. Its growth was rooted in an aggressive cost-cutting strategy that produced the "lowest food prices," according to a slogan that a court commanded the chain to stop using.

The slogan skirmish wasn't the last time Food Lion landed in court: The company lost a suit against ABC in connection with a notorious 1992 Primetime Live special showing Food Lion staffers selling rotten meat, and in 1993 paid $16.2 million to settle claims relating to alleged overtime, minimum wage and child-labor-law violations. The fallout from the highly publicized incidents led to the closing of nearly 100 Food Lion stores.

Food Lion is now working to position itself as the Southeast's leading sustainable supermarket chain, presenting its new store as evidence of its commitment. According to Phillips-Brown, the store's innovative design reduces energy consumption by 20 percent and water use by 40 percent.

Its more obvious amenities include bike racks, lights that dim when the sun is shining, a wide selection of natural and organic products, an extensive on-site recycling center and environmental-education kiosks.

But Phillips-Brown says customers are especially interested in the restroom partitions, which were constructed from recycled juice, milk and water bottles.

"We've had many customers coming to check out the bathroom," she says.

Filed Under: Business, Reviews, Stores & Shopping Reviews, News
Tags: food lion, LEED, south carolina, southern states

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-20-2009 @3:54PM virginia said... I find spoiled foods in your store as well as poor produce. You need to do more than spruce up your image if you want loyal customers.
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12-20-2009 @6:09PM irene klein said... I agree...produce and meat are substandard and dairy is more expensive than the other localnmarkets. South Carolina needs Publix or Wegemans

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12-20-2009 @7:03PM scharabo said... I've shopped at a couple of Food Lions. All I can say is they ain't no Publix. Good luck, but, as noted above, they really need to upgrade their fresh/perishable foods sections.
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12-20-2009 @9:46PM BBub said... "Certainly we want to serve our customers," Philips-Brown says of the project. "But it's more about being a good corporate citizen."

Right, who needs customers? It's more important to be in bankruptcy with green stores.

I go there 3 times a week. ONly once per week can I buy produce. Even the 'green bananas' go blck in 3 days....maythey get their produce from "green farms". Find another schtick Food Lion!

I've never seen AlGore in a Food Lion!
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12-20-2009 @7:44PM Myssti said... I'd like to add my comment. I work for Food lion. Have been for 22 yrs. I have lived and worked through all of Food lion's ups and downs. I have seen fantastic store managers and pretty poor ones, and I feel that a store is only as good as the manager that represents it. My store is one of THE best stores that I have had the privilege to work for. Not only do we push to have the cleanest store, the best stocked store, the most CS related store, we also pride ourselves on having the best produce we can get our hands on, that is well cared for and proudly displayed in our produce department, we also pride ourselves in keeping up with close-dated items. Our dairy and meat departments keep a close watch on freshness dates and we pride ourselves on that. If we wouldn't feed that to our family, it's NOT out there. Same goes for our Deli department. Dates are checked every morning and evening. If the whole store works as a team, with a great manager, you have a great store! And I am proud to be a Food Lion employee AND customer!
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12-20-2009 @8:10PM aimes said... I find it funny how myssti writes a whole paragraph about how good
Food Lion's service and products can be, then when someone doesn't
agree with her she replies with grow your own produce and animals.
Very mature and a perfect example of the type of standards Food Lion
exspects from their employees. I am a Customer Service Manager for a
Food Lion competitor and know that is NOT the way to show someone
that your stores have high standards.

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12-20-2009 @7:43PM b.borders said... I would not shop a F.L.; just because they have bought into this "Green" crap.
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12-20-2009 @7:49PM Myssti said... Then just grow your own veggies and animals!

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12-21-2009 @3:52PM anya said... NOT Good at all, can not compare it to publix,and sure as heck can't beat good old (danny) WEGMAN'S,(rochester,ny) They won't let him near the deep south!!!!!!!!!!! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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12-21-2009 @4:34PM Tony R. said... Almost as filthy as Winn Dixie. Their meats are awful. They don't need to go green....they need to shut down.
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