Food Lion's parent makes offer to buy BI-LO

[amspinner]

Bi-Lo said today it has signed a non-binding letter intent with the Delhaize Group, the operator of the Food Lion chain, to acquire “a substantial majority” of Mauldin-based Bi-Lo for $425 million.

[loaslaen]

I saw that today too.

Delhaize said it intends to integrate BI-LO's shops into its Food Lion chain of shops. Food Lion has more than 1,300 stores in 11 states with 74,000 employees.

Does that mean the Bi-los are going to change over into Food Lion stores?

[cpnmaniac44]

Bi-Lo said today it has signed a non-binding letter intent with the Delhaize Group, the operator of the Food Lion chain, to acquire “a substantial majority” of Mauldin-based Bi-Lo for $425 million.

:sad::sad::sad::sad::sad::sad:

nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LIKE DOUBLES UP TO $.99 7 DAYS A WEEK AND ALL THE GOOD b1g1 FREES.

worst thing that could happen, because Food Lion and Bloom are not getting many of my food dollars and they know why.

PLEEEASE report back that it is just another "Harris Teeter super doubles" like rumor.......

[cpnmaniac44]

Bi-Lo said today it has signed a non-binding letter intent with the Delhaize Group, the operator of the Food Lion chain, to acquire “a substantial majority” of Mauldin-based Bi-Lo for $425 million.


Belgian supermarket operator Delhaize Group to Buy food retailer BI-LO Assets *|*CEOWORLD Magazine (http://ceoworld.biz/ceo/2009/10/05/belgian-supermarket-operator-delhaize-group-to-buy-food-retailer-bi-lo-assets/)
:sad::sad::sad::sad::sad:

[loaslaen]

Not a rumor...

bi-lo food lion - Google News (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&source=hp&q=bi-lo%20food%20lion&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn)

[beth119]

Delhaize bought Harvey's in 2004ish-2005ish. Many of the foodlions were then changed to Harveys. The orginal plan was to change ALL of them.

Well, obviously, they did some, but not all. And there wasn't a ton of change in for the remaining foodlions.

I wouldn't worry to much.

[cpnmaniac44]

Bi-Lo said today it has signed a non-binding letter intent with the Delhaize Group, the operator of the Food Lion chain, to acquire “a substantial majority” of Mauldin-based Bi-Lo for $425 million.

:hysterical:
I'm on the floor and I ain't laughing......we need a crying icon.

[justagirlnamedStormy]

We have two Harvey's (which used to be Foodlions) here in Statesboro and I do not like them. Not very many deals to be had. I don't want anything to happen to my BiLo.

[jonjaktez]

NO NO NO NO NO. Without Bi-Lo, I only have Ingles that doubles and I HATE Ingles.

[manders13]

i don't like food lion :( i live in cincy but i checked out food lion when i was at holden beach. the only thing they got going for them is their flips...

I love harris teeter though :)

[justamom2six]

So is this just in Mauldin????

[SyLph211]

no it seems it a lot of thier stores. I am sure they will close some of them. We have a Food lion less than a block away from the Bi-Lo. Sad as Publix wanted to buy Bi-Lo but there were too many stipulations involved so they backed out. Thanks goodness I am moving closer to Publix.

[HintofBlue]

Arrrgh! The Bi-Lo's around here rock. I'll be polite about my opinion of the Food Lions and just say that, in my book, they rank FAR behind all of the other major grocers in the area on price, quality, selection, appearance (even with their recent renovations), marketing, and customer care.

This seems so not right. It's the Food Lions that make me wonder how they survive around here. I rarely go into them, except occasionally, like this past week, when they have a few items at a great price. Even then, they are the least busy of any of the stores in the area. If the Food Lions disappeared, the only thing I'd mis would be using their coupons as competitor q's elsewhere. I would miss my Bi-Lo very much, though. It's one of my two favorite stores.

[vickib50]

If this means no more double coupons, what on earth are we going to do? Publix only doubles up to .50 and most Qs these days are .55 and up. My Bi-Lo doubles up to .60. I know in some areas it is much higher.

I visit Food Lion only rarely and they have to practically give it away to get me in the store for just an item or two. They are always practically empty when I visit. The one closest to me closed last year. It was a block from Bi-Lo and BL was eating their lunch.

We'll see how this shakes out. Thankfully, I have an abundant stockpile right now and can wait it out for Harris Teeter, 130 miles away, to have triples. I've been known to travel that far and stay overnight to do HT. Sounds crazy, I know.

:hysterical: I am also on the floor, also not laughing.

[jonjaktez]

Spoke to my manager today and he said that Bi-Los would stay Bi-Lo and Food Lions would stay Food Lions. He also said we would not even notice a change.

[lovelace]

want a sad day,I love my bilo

[ECB_Mule]

I guess we will just have to wait and see. Food Lion LLC owns and operates 1,300 stores. Not all of them carry the Fool Lion name, they also own Bloom, Harvey's, Bottom Dollar Food, and Reids. So there might be a chance that it is just a purchase and it will be business as usual for us. At least that is what I'm hoping!

[gf2extlynx]

My father-in-law said he heard on the news that Food Lion would be closing a bunch of Bi-Los...The real bad thing is we have a Bi-Lo and a FL....So I might lose my store :( Plus they just started staying open 24 hrs. I am NOT shopping FL...I shopped at Bloom for their SD but not on a regular basis. Oh and then to make it worse...there will be an empty store in the middle of our town...so not only am I probably going to lose my store BUT I will be forced to look at a closed down business everytime I go anywhere...
He also said their mission is to unite so they can be competitive with Super Walmart....Oh, I'm getting one of those next summer across from my Bi-Lo.. :( (I agree we need a crying icon)

[cpnmaniac44]

My father-in-law said he heard on the news that Food Lion would be closing a bunch of Bi-Los...The real bad thing is we have a Bi-Lo and a FL....So I might lose my store :( Plus they just started staying open 24 hrs. I am NOT shopping FL...I shopped at Bloom for their SD but not on a regular basis. Oh and then to make it worse...there will be an empty store in the middle of our town...so not only am I probably going to lose my store BUT I will be forced to look at a closed down business everytime I go anywhere...
He also said their mission is to unite so they can be competitive with Super Walmart....Oh, I'm getting one of those next summer across from my Bi-Lo.. :( (I agree we need a crying icon)

Here is the latest story, dated Oct. 14th.
https://www.fis.dowjones.com/WebBlogs.aspx?aid=DJFDBR0020091013e5ad000b5&ProductIDFromApplication=&r=wsjblog&s=djfdbr

It clearly says the intent is to sell SOME of the stores to Food Lion, but creditors, people owed money by Bi-Lo are trying to block the sale.
TODAY was a deadline. It also says:
Bi-Lo is pursuing a sale to Delhaize that would see >>>> most Bi-Lo locations <<<< folded into the Food Lion chain, which operates 1,300 stores predominately in the southern part of the U.S.