Charlotte’s newest grocery store features fresh sushi, meals to go and local goods
Just six months after opening another store in Charlotte, Food Lion is expanding again, this time in the Wesley Chapel neighborhood.
The 46,000-square-foot south Charlotte Food Lion store will debut at 8 a.m. Wednesday at 5939 Weddington Road, in a former Harris Teeter location. Matthews-based Harris Teeter closed the specialty-concept store in December 2020.
In January, Food Lion, based in Salisbury, opened a store at 2201 West W. T. Harris Blvd., also in a former Harris Teeter spot.
More Info: Walmart and Harris Teeter vie for top grocer spot by market share in the Charlotte region
Food Lion’s latest expansion is part of an ongoing supermarket battle for grocery dollars in the Charlotte region.
Other grocers that have recently opened stores include Publix, Lidl and Lowes Foods, as well as international grocer Super G Mart. And, Harris Teeter parent company Kroger plans to build a $138 million grocery fulfillment center in Concord with more than 690 jobs.
Food Lion is the No. 3 grocery chain in the region for market share behind Walmart and Harris Teeter, according to the latest report by sales tracking firm Chain Store Guide.
What to expect at the new Food Lion
The new Food Lion features fresh sushi, fresh-cut fruit, grab-and-go meals, plus organic, gluten-free and plant-based items, according to the grocer.
The supermarket includes self-checkout lanes and the Food Lion To Go grocery pick-up service.
The store also offers local products including craft beers, pimento cheese made by Charlotte’s Trade & Tryon and local produce from Patterson Farms in China Grove.
The Wesley Chapel store hours will be 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Store manager is Micheal Brigman.
The store has about 130 employees, Food Lion spokesman Matt Harakal said.
With the store’s debut, Food Lion donated $2,500 to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina through Food Lion Feeds.
Food Lion, owned by Ahold Delhaize, has more than 1,100 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 82,000 people. The 65-year-old grocery chain has 104 Charlotte-area stores.
Other grocery store openings
Here are other expansion plans for grocers in the area:
▪ Lidl, a low-cost German grocer, opened its 10th Charlotte-area store last month at 11200 Carmel Commons Boulevard in south Charlotte.
▪ Publix, based in Florida, has at least seven store openings planned in the Charlotte region.
A 55,000-square-foot store with a drive-thru is proposed at 11525 Carmel Commons. The site is about a quarter-mile from the new Lidl store.
The other six new stores planned are: Clear Creek Crossings at Albemarle and Rocky River Church roads in Charlotte; The Colony at Sharon and Colony roads in SouthPark; Harris Farms Shopping Center at Coddle Creek Highway and Kistler Farm Road in Mooresville; North Creek Village at Sam Furr and Davidson Concord roads in Huntersville; 10 Tryon building at Tryon and Ninth streets in uptown; and Arboretum at Providence and Pineville-Matthews Roads.
▪ International grocer Super G Mart will open its third and largest North Carolina store this summer at 10500 Centrum Parkway in Pineville, with a food hall, full-restaurant and retail.
▪ Lowes Foods, based in Winston-Salem, opened its “first-of-its-kind” store in February with entertainment at 14021 Boren St. in Huntersville in a former Earth Fare. Lowes Foods also will anchor Christenbury Village in Concord in a 52,000-square-foot space. That store is expected to open early next year, down the road from a Lidl.
