A quarter-century after it entered the Jacksonville market with a big splash, Food Lion is pulling out, affecting 700 jobs in the metropolitan area.
Delhaize Group, the Belgium-based parent company of the supermarket chain, announced Wednesday night that it is discontinuing the Food Lion brand in Florida and closing 113 stores, including 20 in the Jacksonville metropolitan area.The stores will close within 30 days.
Delhaize made the announcement after reporting disappointing sales for the fourth quarter. The company is closing a total of 146 stores in the U.S. and Europe.
Spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown said this morning that each store averages about 35 employees. The 20 stores would employ about 700 jobs.
The 12 stores closing in Duval County employ about 420 workers.
“All eligible associates will receive severance, and all associates have an opportunity to apply for any open positions in the company,” she said.
The company said about 4,900 positions total will be eliminated throughout the system.
In a news release, CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers said the economy and increased competition have hurt sales in the U.S. and Belgium, prompting the decision to close stores.
“This decision is in line with our ‘new game plan’ which is aimed at accelerating profitable growth,” Beckers said.
“For a retailer, it is never an easy decision to close stores as we are fully aware of the impact on our associates, our customers and the communities we serve,” he said.
“Having said that, we feel these decisions are in keeping with our responsibility to our shareholders to deploy resources where they will achieve the highest return. We fully expect these actions to be value-enhancing in 2012,” he said.
According to Bloomberg News, Delhaize’s stock has dropped 21 percent in the past year in trading on the Brussels exchange.
Delhaize will continue to operate 1,127 Food Lions in 10 states after closing 12 stores in Jacksonville and eight others in surrounding counties.
While there will be no more Food Lions in Florida, the company will continue to operate supermarkets in the state under two other brand names, Sweetbay and Harveys. A Food Lion store in Lake City will be converted to Harveys, the company said.
Food Lion entered the Jacksonville market in 1987 with big plans to compete with the two supermarket chains that dominated the local market, Publix and Winn-Dixie.
But sales began to sag and it started closing stores by the mid-1990s. An 832,000-square-foot distribution center in Green Cove Springs that opened in 1988 to serve Food Lion stores in the market was closed in 2001.
Food Lion’s share of the Northeast Florida grocery market continued to slide in the 2000s as Walmart grew its Supercenters in the area, putting Food Lion fourth in the market, according to data from the Shelby Report of the Southeast.
356-2466
Food Lion closings
Duval County
• 6260 103rd St.
• 7900 103rd St.
• 10550 St. Augustine Road
• 7200 Normandy Blvd.
• 6855 Wilson Blvd.
• 701 Mayport Crossing Blvd.
• 8011 Merrill Road
• 5751 N. Main St.
• 8299-21 W. Beaver St.
• 418 Starratt Road
• 1650 San Pablo Road S.
• 6765 Dunn Ave.
Baker County
• 1340 S. Sixth St., Macclenny
Clay County
• 1670 Wells Road, Orange Park
• 2570 County Road 220, Middleburg
Nassau County
• 2132 Sadler Road, Fernandina Beach
St. Johns County
• 445 Florida 13, Fruit Cove
• 2469 U.S. 1 S., St. Augustine
• 7462 U.S. 1 N., St. Augustine
• 181 Blackford Way, St. Augustine