Jennifer Warner of Perryville leaves the Danville Food Lion with a cart full of groceries Thursday. The store's imminent closing displeases Warner, who likes its relatively small scale and friendly atmosphere. (Todd Kleffman) |
As news spread Thursday that Food Lion plans to soon shutter all of its Kentucky locations, some shoppers at the Danville store voiced their displeasure.
“Yeah, I’m pretty upset that it’s closing,” Jennifer Warner of Perryville said as she wheeled a cart full of groceries to her car. “They’re friendly here. It’s not like where you walk in and nobody acknowledges you. And the smaller size. I don’t like to walk 20 miles from one item to the next.”
“Plus, I like the Food Lion brand stuff.”
Delhaize America, a North Carolina-based grocery chain, announced Wednesday on its website it is closing 113 stores across several states, including all seven of its Food Lion locations in Kentucky, within 30 days. Along with Danville and Stanford, the company has stores in Dry Ridge, Cynthiana, Morehead, Paris and Radcliff.
The closings are part of a larger restructuring of the company, CEO Ron Hodge said in a press release on the company's website.
"Today's actions will continue to solidify our U.S. operations and enable our company to focus on our successful brand strategy repositioning at Food Lion and the expansion of Bottom Dollar Food in new markets," Hodge said. "While these were difficult decisions given the impact on our associates, customers and communities, we believe these actions will enable us to better serve our customers in our markets with high density, while positioning the company for future growth."
A sign posted at the Danville store said it will begin reducing its stock with a clearance sale beginning Wednesday, with all items except alcohol and tobacco marked down 25 percent. It does not list the day the store will close.
Janet Crowe of Perryville noticed the sign Thursday afternoon.
“Am I happy about it? Not at all,” she said. “The store is not so huge you feel overwhelmed. You don’t have all the crowd of people to fight like at Walmart. You have more of a personal connection with the store and the people who work there.”
“The meats are better, too,”added her husband, Philip Crowe.
