Bloom withers in the Carolinas

Food Lion's upscale counterpart Bloom will no longer be a fixture of the grocerying scene in the Charlotte region and in the Upstate of South Carolina. Delhaize America, parent company of Bloom and Food Lion, has announced that the Bloom stores in these two regions will convert to Food Lion stores over the course of the spring. There are currently 16 Bloom stores in the Carolinas: nine in the Charlotte region and eight in the Upstate. 15 of these stores will be converted to Food Lion, and one store in Mauldin, S.C. will close. Bloom currently has 65 stores in total, most of which are in the Washington, D.C. metro area and Hampton Roads area.

It doesn't come as a surprise that Delhaize has decided to convert its Bloom stores in the Carolinas to Food Lion, as Food Lion is a more established brand in this region. Additionally, last year we reported that Bloom's proposed expansion to the Triangle wouldn't happen after all and those stores opened as Food Lion. It will be interesting to watch the impact that the branding change has on the local grocery market. Bloom opened its first store in Charlotte in 2004. In addition to Food Lion and Bloom, grocery stores operated by Delhaize Group in the United States include Hannaford, Harvey's, Bottom Dollar, Reid's and Sweetbay.

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