Food Lion rolls out curbside pickup to more stores

Food Lion this month expanded online grocery curbside pickup to another 46 stores in the Carolinas and Virginia.

The Salisbury, N.C.-based supermarket chain said Monday that its Food Lion To Go pickup service is now available at 14 more stores, including eight locations in North Carolina and six locations in Virginia. Earlier in June, Food Lion To Go pickup launched at 32 stores, including 28 in North Carolina, three in South Carolina and one in Virginia.

Through the click-and-collect service, customers can shop for and buy groceries — including fresh produce, meat, seafood, deli and bakery items — online at shop.foodlion.com or via the Food Lion To Go mobile app and have them available for pickup at a local store in as soon as an hour. Customers ages 21 and older in North Carolina also can buy beer and wine via To Go, which runs seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Perishables are stored in a refrigerated or frozen space, and hot food and other fresh items are packed just before shoppers’ scheduled arrival at the store. Upon arrival, shoppers park in a designated To Go space, and a Food Lion associate brings out their groceries and loads them into their vehicle.

Food Lion uses its own personal shoppers to pick and bag groceries for pickup orders and load the items into customers' vehicles.

Food Lion MVP members, too, can link their loyalty card to their To Go account to use digital coupons and redeem “Shop & Earn” MVP savings rewards. Items bought through the To Go service have the same pricing as in stores, according to Food Lion.

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To Go service costs $1.99 for orders of $35 or more and $3.99 for orders less than $35. Food Lion said the service is free for customers’ first order. Pickup requires a minimum purchase of $10.

“Continuing to expand this service to more Food Lion stores is important to us and our customers,” Evan Harding, director of digital and e-commerce at Food Lion, said in a statement. “We want to give our neighbors the option to shop through the channel they prefer, in-store or online, while still ensuring they have access to fresh groceries at affordable prices.”

Food Lion provides online grocery pickup and delivery under the Food Lion To Go brand. Orders can be placed through the Food Lion To Go website and app, both built and powered by Instacart Enterprise, or via the Instacart online marketplace.

Though Instacart manages Food Lion’s online shopping portal and delivery service, the grocer uses its own trained personal shoppers to pick and bag groceries for Food Lion To Go pickup orders and bring them to customers when they arrive at the store. Food Lion initially tested To Go pickup at three stores in 2017 before expanding the pilot to another 50 stores in 2018 and bringing the service to more stores in 2019.

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Last summer, Food Lion expanded same-day online grocery delivery to about half of its store base. Instacart personal shoppers pick and pack Food Lion To-Go orders and deliver them to customers’ homes within the selected time window. Orders can be delivered in as soon as an hour or scheduled up to two weeks in advance.

Food Lion began its partnership with San Francisco-based Instacart in 2016 with a pilot of online grocery delivery service in the Charlotte, N.C., market. Overall, the Ahold Delhaize USA grocery chain has more than 1,100 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.