Food Lion closing all Florida stores

Food Lion announcing plans to close all of their Florida grocery stores within the next month.

In and around the First Coast there are about 20 stores that will shut its doors.  It's not yet clear how many employees will be left without a job.  In a company press release the total number of layoffs is expected to be around 4,900.

Here's the statement from the Delhaize America, the parent company of Food Lion:

Delhaize America plans to close 113 Food Lion underperforming stores. In addition, the company will convert the Food Lion store in Lake City, Fla., to a Harveys store. As a result of these actions, Delhaize America will no longer operate the Food Lion banner in Florida, but will continue operations of its Sweetbay and Harveys banners in the state. The company is increasing its density of Food Lion stores in other states by converting Bloom and Bottom Dollar Food stores to Food Lion, specifically in Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. After these actions are complete, Food Lion will operate in 10 states and have 1,127 stores.

"Food Lion is focused on repositioning our business for future growth," said Cathy Green Burns, president of Food Lion. "By closing underperforming stores, we will continue to position Food Lion for success, especially in light of our brand strategy results. We are very pleased with the reaction from our customers on the implementation of our new brand strategy work, which includes being recognized as a price leader, making our stores easier to shop, offering the greatest value in private brands and providing fresh produce. However, we also determined the most successful markets for these investments are areas where we have strong store density or high market share. As we move forward with implementing our strategy this year, Food Lion will launch its next market this quarter and expects to be substantially complete by year-end. We look forward to accelerating the Food Lion strategy and bringing the strategy to life in an additional 600 to 700 stores."

Below is a list of the local Food Lion stores.

Jacksonville
7900 103Rd Street

10550 St. Augustine Road

7200 Normandy Blvd

6855 Wilson Blvd.

701 Mayport Crossing Blvd.

8011 Merrill Road

5751 North Main Street

8299-21 W Beaver Street

6260 103Rd Street

418 Staratt Road

1650 San Pablo Road South

6765 Dunn Avenue

Fruit Cove
445 State Road 13

St. Augustine
2469 U.S. 1 South

181 Blackford Way

Orange Park
1670 Wells Road

Middleburg
2570 County Road 220

Fernandina Beach
2132 Sadler Road

Macclenny
1340 South Sixth Street