No Bloom for the Triangle; Charlotte store moves forward

Last year we reported that Food Lion's upscale and high-tech spin off, Bloom, would be expanding to North Carolina's Research Triangle area with stores planned in Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville and Clayton. These stores will now open under the Food Lion banner, as Delhaize Group, parent company of Food Lion and Bloom, say they would like to focus on markets that they are currently in like Washington, D.C., Greenville-Spartanburg and Charlotte, before expanding into new markets.

In other Bloom news, their Charlotte store which replaces the former Bi-Lo in Dilworth Crossing is set to open this Wednesday, March 17. What's In Store blog has photos from inside the store.

Trader Joe's - Cary

Trader Joe's first North Carolina store came to this former Winn-Dixie in Cary last year. The other half of it became a Staples store.

Wikipedia:

Trader Joe's describes itself as "your unique grocery store". Products sold at "TJ's" include gourmet foods, organic foods, vegetarian food, unusual frozen foods, imported foods, domestic and imported wine, "alternative" food items, and basics like bread, cereal, eggs, and produce. Some non-food items, including personal hygiene products, household cleaners, vitamins, pet food, and plants and flowers, are also available. Many of the company's products are considered environmentally friendly.^[9]

Trader Joe's sells many items from any of several of its own private labels. Such labels are quirkily named by the ethnicity of the food in question, such as Trader Jose's (Mexican food), Trader Ming's (Chinese food), Baker Josef's (bagels), Trader Giotto's (Italian food), Trader Joe-San (Japanese food), Trader Johann's (lip balm), and Trader Darwin's (vitamins).

Trader Joe's is also known as the exclusive retailer of Charles Shaw wine, popularly known as Two Buck Chuck^[9] because of its $1.99 a bottle price in California (although in some locales it sells for over $3 a bottle, due to varying state liquor taxes and transportation costs).