Loyal shoppers who have patronized Hinesville’s 25-year-old Food Lion supermarket on Gen. Screven Way soon will have to go elsewhere for their groceries.
“This is the No. 1 place that I shop at,” Heather Waters said. “They have really good deals here. I shop for all my meats at this store.”
Waters, of Midway, said the next-closest Food Lion to her home is in Richmond Hill.
“I’m really bummed to hear (about the store’s closing),” Hinesville resident Bruce Sieloff said. “We enjoy coming to this Food Lion. The other one (on Highway 196) is nice, too, but it’s farther from where I live.”
Sieloff, an active-duty military service member, said Food Lion offers his family off-post shopping convenience at affordable prices since the commissary on Fort Stewart now is closed two days a week.
Delhaize America, the company that operates Food Lion, has confirmed the Food Lion in the Shoppes of Hinesville at 103-H Gen. Screven Way, will close on or before Aug. 27. The 36,000-square foot store opened Dec. 4, 1988, according to company officials.
“Our company routinely evaluates its stores as part of an ongoing effort to serve our customers,” Delhaize America spokesperson Christy Phillips-Brown said. “We’ve enjoyed serving our customers at this location and thank all customers for shopping at Food Lion.”  
Phillips-Brown said the company encourages customers to shop at the relatively new Food Lion store at 2389 West Highway 196 in Hinesville.
As for Food Lion employees, they will be given opportunities to apply for other positions within the company, according to Phillips-Brown.
“On average, Food Lion employs approximately 35 associates per store,” she said.  “Associates are eligible to apply for open positions within the company. We are making every effort to transfer as many associates as possible to other locations in and around the area.”
The local Food Lion closing comes more than a year after the company closed “underperforming” Food Lion stores across several Southeastern states, including Georgia.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in January 2012 that Delhaize America shut down 113 Food Lions, including 29 stores in Georgia. Coastal Georgia communities that experienced Food Lion closings last year included Savannah, Garden City, Rincon and Waycross, according to ajc.com.
Delhaize America is based in Salisbury, N.C. Food Lion LLC is a subsidiary of the Brussels-based Delhaize Group, according to foodlion.com. The company was founded as Food Town in 1957.
Food Lion operates about 1,300 supermarkets, either directly or through affiliated entities, under the names of Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar, Harveys and Reid’s, according to foodlion.com.