In a surprising twist, the parent company of the merging Giant Food–Food Lion supermarket chain announced Wednesday night that it will keep the Giant stores in the Fredericksburg area and sell 13 local Food Lions instead.
The Fredericksburg and Culpeper Food Lion stores are among 38 in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware being sold to Weis Markets of Sunbury, Pa. Founded in 1912, Weis operates 162 stores with 18,000 employees in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia.
The Delhaize Group, which is merging with Giant owner Royal Ahold, owns 21 Food Lion stores in the Fredericksburg region. The stores being sold are the one on U.S. 1 in Fredericksburg; the Deacon Road and U.S. 17 stores in southern Stafford; the Garrisonville Road and U.S. 1 locations in North Stafford; the two on Courthouse Road in Spotsylvania, as well as the Tidewater Trail, Plank Road, Salem Fields Boulevard and Spotsylvania Avenue stores in the county; and at the Culpeper Town Mall and Madison Road in Culpeper.
Royal Ahold had informed employees at its Giant stores in the region earlier this year that those might be sold to avoid federal concerns about gaining too much of a market share, which could jeopardize the merger.
Crystal Senires, an assistant manager at the Giant store in Eagle Village in Fredericksburg, said she and other employees “are very happy with the news of our job security and we look forward to serving the community as we have all these years.”
“No. 1 was definitely job security,” she said. “A lot of us were afraid of change and going to new companies, because we love Giant and everything it stands for. We’re just happy that we can continue being Giant and help our community.”
Ahold and Delhaize, international retailers based in Europe, agreed to merge last year, partly to help them better compete in the United States with such rivals as Walmart, which has the largest grocery business in the country.
Walmart became the dominant grocery retailer in the Fredericksburg area in 2013, when it topped Food Lion’s sales for the first time, according to a market share survey of sales by the trade publication Food World. Food Lion remains in the No. 2 spot, followed by Giant in third place, according to the most recent Food World survey.
After Royal Ahold informed employees of the possible sale of its Fredericksburg-area Giants in March, the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 400, launched a #SaveMyStore campaign. It held rallies to urge Royal Ahold to keep the Giant stores and their employees and started a petition drive that garnered several thousand signatures from employees, customers and others.
In all, Ahold and Delhaize are selling 86 of their stores in the mid-Atlantic and eastern United States. That includes 10 Martin’s stores in Richmond being sold to Publix and some Food Lion stores in Maryland and western Virginia being sold to Supervalu.
All of the purchase agreements are subject to Federal Trade Commission approval. The agreements are also subject to FTC clearance and formal completion of the Ahold and Delhaize merger, which the companies continue to expect before the end of July.
“We are pleased to have found strong, well established buyers for the stores we are required to divest,” Ahold Chief Executive Officer Dick Boer said in a prepared statement released Wednesday night. “We deeply appreciate the longtime support of our customers and associates in these locations and are confident that the new owners will continue to serve local communities well.”
By: Phil Jenkins and Tucker Warner (The Freelance Star).
Photo: Patch.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations &
Research Unit, FLAGSHIP RECORDS.
For The #FacebookTeam