FOOD LION ROARS INTO HMR MARKET AT ITS LARGEST STORE

JACK ROBERTIELLO

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Food Lion has made its first serious foray into the home-meal replacement market at its newest and largest store here.

The more than 56,000-square-foot unit, opened Nov. 13, stresses freshness and convenience via a number of product features, as well as a new design that groups together in the front of the store a salad and hot food line, a rotisserie chicken case, pizza service, a sit-down dining area and a case stocked with prepackaged HMR entrees and side dishes.

The store also includes an expanded produce section and the chain's first service seafood section.

The new format represents a more concerted effort on the part of Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion to get in line with industry trends in merchandising fresh foods and meals, in particular.

"We thought very carefully about this store and adjusted things for our customer convenience," said Chris Ahearn, spokeswoman for Food Lion. "We've made a bigger commitment to customer convenience for those looking for meal solutions."

According to a local supermarket observer who visited the store, the Virginia Beach Food Lion does represent a departure for the chain.

"This is a real convenience-oriented layout; customers can run in, pick up their meals, some flowers, bread and a dessert, everything they need for a meal, and run right out again without entering any other part of the store," said the source. "It makes for a very convenient shopping for the customer in a hurry.

"Food Lion officials [at the opening] were talking a lot about how convenience was what their customers say they want," said the local source.

The local source added that while the introduction of HMR options is an important change for Food Lion, it is not revolutionary. "I think they're still sticking to their image of cheap and filling food. They're not going gourmet but they are adding much more service and convenience," the industry observer said.

The chain has conducted surveys of its customers to determine what sections they'd like Food Lion to expand or introduce in its stores, said the source.

Customers at the Virginia Beach store will have three options from which to choose for their meals-to-go: picking up prepackaged heat-and-eat HMR products, branded "Homestyle Meals to Go"; packaging their own selections at the hot and cold self-service line; or ordering a custom-packaged meal from store associates.

A store map indicates that the format's design flows easily to accommodate meal-solution customers, an impression confirmed by the local source.

As customers enter the store, they're greeted first by a self-service floral department. The layout then turns shoppers to the right and into the fresh alley.

According to the store map, pizza, self-serve deli, chicken and the salad and hot lines are roughly configured in a "D" shape in the alley. Self-serve bakery shelves run along the closest wall, and from there the aisle funnels customers into the produce section.

Customers can grab a meal, or a pastry and coffee and turn back toward the front of the store to sit in the dining area. The area has room for 12 to 18 customers, said Ahearn of Food Lion.

According to the local source, Food Lion was charging $3.29 per pound for self-serve items at the hot and cold food line. Customers who wanted meals packed for them were charged $3.89 for one meat portion with two side dishes, and $6.99 for two meat portions with two sides.

The Homestyle Meals to Go sold for under $2.50, the source said.

The range of HMR items available will "vary from day to day," said Ahearn. "We're in the early stages of testing this concept, and we'll be adjusting it based on input from our customers."

The Homestyle Meals to Go are also being tested in 39 other Virginia stores in the Virginia Beach, Newport News, Williamsburg, Mechanicsville and Chesapeake markets, and at the chain's flagship Salisbury, N.C., store.

In other test stores, the prepacked meals will be stocked in the "Food Lion & Fast" deli sections that carry prepared foods.

The Homestyle Meals to Go items and all other prepared foods are supplied to Food Lion by the Mom and Pop Bakery Division of the Claremont, N.C.-based WSMP Corporation, said Ahearn. WSMP officials did not return calls seeking comment.

The Homestyle Meals to Go program included grilled and fried chicken, grilled pork, Dijon-style mustard chicken breast, meat loaf, peas and pearl onions, honey glazed carrots and macaroni and cheese. The hot and cold line contained about 18 cold items, two hot meat entrees and four hot vegetable sides.

The new format evolved as Food Lion incorporated customer feedback after the chain opened a large format store in Wake Forest, N.C., last year, Ahearn said.

And with the Matthews, N.C.-based chain Harris-Teeter opening its second store in the market recently, and other new competitors such as Hannaford Bros., Scarborough, Maine, entering the region, the new Food Lion format could also be considered a response to increasing fresh component pressure, the local source said.