Charlotte’s newest grocery store features hot bar, to-go meals, local produce

Less than a year after opening another store in Charlotte, Food Lion is expanding again with the debut of its Mallard Creek neighborhood store in north Charlotte.

On Wednesday, the nearly 48,000-square-foot supermarket opened at 2201 West W. T. Harris Blvd., in a former Harris Teeter location. Harris Teeter closed the store two years ago saying it was a strategic decision.

Last spring, Food Lion opened another store at 1620 Ashley Road in northwest Charlotte in the former Harveys Supermarket location.

It’s the latest move in the ongoing grocery wars among supermarket chains battling to improve their share of the lucrative market in the Charlotte area.

Food Lion, the 65-year-old Salisbury-based grocery, faces competition from newcomers like Lidl, renewed expansion by Lowes Foods and Earth Fare, as well as Publix. Harris Teeter parent company Kroger’s also said it plans to bring the $138 million grocery fulfillment center to Concord with more than 690 jobs.

With 104 Charlotte-area stores, 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 a self-service hot food bar, 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.

Food Lion also offers locally-produced products, including craft beer, pimento cheese by Trade & Tryon of Charlotte and produce from Patterson Farms in China Grove.

The store is open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Mallard Creek store manager is Branden Goetsch, who previously led the North Tryon Street store.

With the store opening, Food Lion donated 10,000 meals each to Hope Street Food Pantry, Faith CME Church Food Ministry and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina through Food Lion Feeds, the retailer’s hunger relief initiative.

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.

In fall 2020, Food Lion acquired 62 Bi-Lo and Harveys Supermarkets in the Carolinas and Georgia, including stores in York and Chester in South Carolina and Gastonia and Lincolnton in North Carolina.

Other grocery store openings around Charlotte

Several other grocers have detailed expansion plans in the Charlotte region, too.

Food Lion’s new store is about 4 miles from the ninth area Lidl store that opened in June at 615 W. Mallard Creek Church Road in University City. Last spring, Lidl also opened a store in Steele Creek. The German discount grocer’s plan to open two more stores at South Boulevard and Carmel Commons.

Other recent supermarket openings and expansions include:

▪ In June, Asheville-based specialty grocer Earth Fare opened its fifth area store, in Davidson.

▪ In April, Silicon Valley online-only grocer Farmstead expanded its free delivery service to homes within an hour’s drive of its Westwood Forest warehouse after opening its first East Coast hub in Charlotte in 2020.

▪ Publix, based in Florida, plans to open at least five more Charlotte-area stores, at the Arboretum, North Creek Village in Huntersville, 10 Tryon building in uptown, at the corner of Sharon and Colony roads in South Park and 11525 Carmel Commons.

▪ Lowes Foods will anchor the Christenbury Village shopping center under development in Concord. It’s expected to open early next year. And, the Winston-Salem-based grocer also plans to open at the former Earth Fare at 14021 Boren St. in Huntersville featuring an entertainment area.

This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 11:57 AM.