Food Lion buying Bi-Lo stores

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Food Lion plans to purchase 62 Bi-Lo and Harveys Supermarket stores in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia from Southeastern Grocers.

The transaction, announced today, does not include every Bi-Lo in South Carolina, but it does include about 15 in the Upstate and two in Columbia (.pdf), according to a Food Lion representative.

Food Lion said in a news release that it plans to hire 4,650 employees across the 62 stores. That number includes employees who currently work at those stores who apply for and secure one of the jobs, according to Matt Harakal, Food Lion’s manager for external communications. Each Food Lion employs 40 to 50 people.

In addition to the stores, Southeastern Grocers will sell a distribution center in Mauldin to Ahold Delhaize USA Distribution LLC, which will support the newly acquired stores and Food Lion’s current network of stores, the news release said.

“We are so excited to add these new locations to our more than 630 stores across Georgia and the Carolinas,” Food Lion President Meg Ham said in the news release. “We’ve been serving customers in these larger regions for almost 60 years. We’re thrilled to add these locations and serve even more towns and cities across these three states with fresh, quality products at affordable prices every day with the caring, friendly service customers expect from their local Food Lion.”

Food Lion has more than 1,000 stores in 10 states, including more than 115 in South Carolina, the news release said. The stores will become part of the Food Lion company in stages that will begin in January and last into April, with the Bi-Lo and Harveys Supermarket stores becoming Food Lion stores as the transactions are complete, the release said.

Food Lion is based in Salisbury, N.C. Southeastern Grocers is based in Jacksonville, Fla., and also operates Winn-Dixie and Fresco y Mas stores, according to the company website.

The Columbia stores affected are located at 4464 Devine St. and at 6021 St. Andrews Road.