Food Lion Is Opening Six More Stores as Southeast Expansion Accelerates
Food Lion is rapidly expanding in the Southeast with six additional stores opening in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia later this year. The new supermarkets will feature modern amenities and enhanced online shopping options.
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Food Lion is accelerating its Southeast expansion, with six new supermarkets scheduled to open across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia before the end of 2026.
The rollout starts Wednesday, Sept. 23, in Summerfield, North Carolina, followed by stores in Charlotte on Oct. 7 and Lavonia, Georgia, on Oct. 14. Three South Carolina openings will follow: Greenville in October, Hilton Head in November and Wren in December.
Together with four stores opened earlier this year, the expansion will give Food Lion 10 new locations in 2026. The company’s six-store opening schedule also points to additional expansion in 2027.
A faster pace of growth
Ten openings in one year represent a noticeable acceleration for Food Lion.
The chain ended 2025 with 1,110 stores, only one more than a year earlier. Its parent company, Ahold Delhaize, is pursuing a broader U.S. strategy that calls for new stores, relocations and remodels through 2028. The company is also building a major new North Carolina distribution center intended in part to support Food Lion’s future growth.
Food Lion currently operates more than 1,100 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 82,000 people. Food Lion’s company profile lists Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee among its core Southern markets.
The new stores remain concentrated in places where Food Lion already has a significant presence rather than pushing the brand into entirely new states.
First opening arrives in Summerfield
The Summerfield store at 413 N.C. Highway 150 West opens Sept. 23 and becomes Food Lion’s second location serving the community and its 24th store in Guilford County.
The supermarket will operate daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Its features include prepared foods, sushi, a produce cooler, organic and plant-based items, traditional checkout lanes and self-checkout. Pickup and home delivery will also be available.
Similar pickup and delivery options are planned for the other new stores. Food Lion has been expanding online ordering across its existing footprint and now offers pickup and/or home delivery throughout all 10 states where it operates.
Grocery competition keeps growing across the Southeast
The expansion comes as supermarket operators continue investing heavily in growing Southern communities.
Food Lion is not relying only on new construction. Ahold Delhaize said the chain remodeled 153 stores in the Charlotte market during 2025 and began work on another 92 in Greensboro. Those renovated locations are part of a larger effort to modernize stores while expanding the chain’s physical footprint.
For shoppers, the most immediate change will arrive over the next three months: six new supermarkets stretching from North Carolina to coastal South Carolina and northeast Georgia.
For Food Lion, however, the 2026 openings appear to be the beginning of a larger growth cycle rather than the end of one. The company has already said more new stores are planned within its existing 10-state territory in 2027.
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