Bottom Dollar Food

Last updated
Bottom Dollar Food
Type Subsidiary
Industry Retail
FoundedSeptember 21, 2005;17 years ago (2005-09-21)
FounderCreated by parent Delhaize America
DefunctJanuary 12, 2015
FateSold to Aldi
Headquarters Salisbury, North Carolina, U.S.
Products Grocery
Parent Delhaize Group

Bottom Dollar Food was an American soft-discount grocery chain. It was a subsidiary of Delhaize America, the U.S. division of international food retailer Delhaize Group. Its headquarters was in Salisbury, North Carolina. [1]

Contents

Bottom Dollar Food sold an assortment of both private brands and national brands at low prices. To curtail costs, the grocer offered customers the option to buy bags to sack their groceries, and also used alternative display and stocking techniques, such as cut cases on shelves.

History

Bottom Dollar was created by parent Delhaize America at the same time as the upscale chain Bloom in 2004. [2] The first Bottom Dollar Food opened in High Point, North Carolina, on September 21, 2005, and eventually there were around 30 stores in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland before the expansion into other states in 2010. [2]

Beginning in October 2010 in King of Prussia, PA, Bottom Dollar Food opened 19 stores in the Delaware Valley and Lehigh Valley areas. [3] The first store in Philadelphia was opened on April 15, 2011. [4] Some industry analysts believed those markets were already overstored with discount competitors such as Aldi, PriceRite and Save-A-Lot. [2] A Philadelphia area competitor was quoted as saying

“It’s always challenging to be the last guy to get in the game, but unlike the other limited assortment discounters already in the market, Bottom Dollar really didn’t present itself as a deep discounter. I believe its mix of private label products with significant branded offerings sent a confusing message to shoppers. Were they trying to become a price-driven operator with decent but not great retails, or a small supermarket with good prices? Their message never seemed to connect.” [2]

In January 2012, Delhaize announced that it would close six and convert 22 others of the original southern Bottom Dollar stores to Food Lion supermarkets as part of a restructuring; the Bloom brand was also retired. [5] [6] The restructuring resulted in the Bottom Dollar name disappearing outside of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

In late February 2012, Bottom Dollar expanded into Pittsburgh and Youngstown, Ohio, neither of which have the parent Food Lion chain and are dominated by Giant Eagle. In these markets, Bottom Dollar also competed with various SuperValu-supplied stores (including low-price Save-A-Lot), Aldi, and Walmart. [7]

In spring 2013, in order to cut costs, Bottom Dollar started to require a quarter to use a shopping cart. When the quarter was inserted, the cart would be unlocked from the other carts. When the cart was returned, the customer was refunded their coin, effectively costing the customer only the time to return the cart. This was a practice also used by Aldi. Though ubiquitous in Europe, where both Aldi and Bottom Dollar's parent company Delhaize Group are headquartered, it is rare in American stores which often have employees return carts left in parking areas.

In August 2014, it was learned that Delhaize wanted to sell all 66 of its remaining Bottom Dollar stores [2] Forty-six of the stores were located in the Delaware Valley and Lehigh Valley in southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and 20 in the Pittsburgh-Youngstown corridor of Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio. Bottom Dollar stores were reported to range in size from 16,848 square feet (Ambler, PA) to 30,352 square feet (Catasaqua Road, Allentown, PA), an average store being about 20,000 square feet, with weekly sales volumes from $296,800 (North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA) to $103,000 (East Windsor, NJ), the average sales being around $150,000 weekly. [2] Although 10 of the New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania stores were company-owned, most stores were leased, with leasehold rents are in the $10–12 per square foot range.

On November 5, 2014, Delhaize Group announced they were selling the Bottom Dollar chain to Aldi, with plans to close the stores by early 2015. [8] The stores were scheduled to close on January 15, 2015, but closed three days early on January 12 due to all the stores selling out their inventory quicker than expected. [9] Aldi hasn't announced whether or not it will reopen any of the locations, although Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto is reportedly in talks with Aldi to reopen a Bottom Dollar location as an Aldi in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Garfield, as there is no other grocery store in the neighborhood. [10] Delhaize finalized the sale of the shuttered locations to Aldi on March 27, 2015, [11] with plans to reopen 30 of the locations purchased as Aldi, [12] including the aforementioned location in Pittsburgh's Garfield section. [13] The remaining locations—all of which are near existing Aldi locations—will either be flipped or sublet by Aldi. [12] [13]

Store brands and competitors

The stores sold the My Essentials and Hannaford private brands.

Bottom Dollar Food competed with other discount supermarket chains - including PriceRite, Save-A-Lot, Aldi, and C-Town Supermarkets.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kroger</span> American retail company

The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.

Aldi is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in Essen. The business was split into two separate groups in 1960, that later became Aldi Nord, headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd, headquartered in Mülheim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acme Markets</span> American supermarket chain

Acme Markets Inc. is a supermarket chain operating 161 stores throughout Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, the Hudson Valley of New York, and Pennsylvania and, as of 1999, is a subsidiary of Albertsons, and part of its presence in the Northeast. It is headquartered in East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, near Malvern, a Philadelphia suburb.

A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weis Markets</span> American supermarket chain

Weis Markets, Inc. is a Mid-Atlantic food retailer headquartered in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. It currently operates 199 stores with over 23,000 employees in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Virginia, and Delaware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food Lion</span> American grocery store chain

Food Lion is an American regional grocery store chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1100 supermarkets in 10 states of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The chain employs over 63,000 people. It was founded in 1957 as Food Town, a single grocery store in Salisbury. It later expanded to many locations across North Carolina. It was independently operated until it was acquired by the Belgium-based conglomerate Delhaize Group in 1974. In 1983, the company changed its name and branding to Food Lion to allow it to expand into regions where Food Town was already in use by unrelated stores. Following further mergers and acquisitions, Food Lion, LLC is currently owned by Ahold Delhaize. The mascot’s name has been George the Food Lion since January 17, 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stop & Shop</span> American chain of supermarkets

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cub (supermarket)</span> American supermarket chain

Cub is an American supermarket chain. It operates stores in Minnesota and Illinois. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu Inc., based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Shop ’n Save was a grocery store chain in the Greater St. Louis market with 36 stores at its peak. The company, headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri, was a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant Eagle</span> American supermarket chain

Giant Eagle, Inc. and stylized as giant eagle) is an American supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland. The company was founded in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and incorporated on August 31, 1931. Supermarket News ranked Giant Eagle 21st on the "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on sales of $11 billion. In 2021, it was the 36th-largest privately held company, as determined by Forbes. Based on 2005 revenue, Giant Eagle is the 49th-largest retailer in the United States. As of Summer 2014, the company had approximately $9.9 billion in annual sales. As of Summer 2022, Giant Eagle, Inc. had 490 stores across the portfolio. 216 supermarkets and 274 fuel station/convenience stores under the GetGo banner. The company is headquartered in an office park in the Pittsburgh suburb of O'Hara Township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloom (store)</span>

Bloom was a chain of mid-grade American grocery stores operated by Food Lion established in 2004. The parent company of Food Lion, The Delhaize Group, announced in January 2012 that it was discontinuing the Bloom brand. Bloom's headquarters were in Salisbury, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price Rite</span> Supermarket chain in the northeastern United States

Price Rite is a chain of supermarkets found in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Based in Keasbey, New Jersey, Price Rite is owned by New Jersey-based Wakefern Food Corporation, the cooperative behind ShopRite Supermarkets, Dearborn Market, and The Fresh Grocer. Prior to 2014, Wakefern owned and operated all Price Rite stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweetbay Supermarket</span> Defunct American supermarket chain (1947-2013)

Sweetbay Supermarket was a chain of American supermarkets located in Florida. The first Sweetbay Supermarket to open was in Seminole, Florida, in November 2004. The company's headquarters was located near Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida. It was a part of the Belgian Delhaize Group. In May 2013, the chain was purchased by BI-LO. On October 8, 2013, BI-LO announced it was retiring the Sweetbay name and all remaining locations would be re-branded as Winn-Dixie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colruyt Group</span>

Colruyt Group is a Belgian family-owned retail corporation that is managing the Colruyt supermarkets and other subsidiaries such as OKay, Bio-Planet, DATS 24, DreamLand, DreamBaby, and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Giant Company</span> American supermarket chain

The Giant Company is an American regional supermarket chain that operates stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia and provides online shopping and delivery to New Jersey through Giant Direct. The chain operates full-scale supermarkets under the Giant and Martin's banners along with small-scale urban stores under the Giant Heirloom Market banner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BI-LO (United States)</span> American supermarket chain owned by Southeastern Grocers

BI-LO was an American supermarket chain owned by Southeastern Grocers, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. In the time of the banner’s elimination, supermarkets under the BI-LO brand were operated in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy</span>

Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy is a supermarket chain with four independently owned stores, all of which are in Virginia. At its peak, Farm Fresh called itself "Virginia's Grocery Store" because it had stores spanning the state. Its headquarters were located in Virginia Beach and its largest presence was in the surrounding Norfolk/Virginia Beach metropolitan area. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based SuperValu. On March 14, 2018, it was revealed that parent company, SuperValu, would be selling 21 stores to Kroger and Ahold Delhaize. Currently, three Farm Fresh stores remain in operation under different ownership. The owners of the store in Richmond announced in November 2021 that they were re-opening Farm Fresh #299 In Poquoson, Virginia and doors would open to customers by April 2022. This would bring the total to 4 stores, two owned by one owner and two by another owner.

Shop 'n Save Supermarkets is a discount grocery store headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The company has 76 stores in the Mid-Atlantic, each locally owned and operated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannaford Brothers Company</span> Supermarket chain in the northeastern United States

Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in Portland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores in New England and New York. The chain is now part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Netherlands, and is a sister company to formerly competing New England supermarket chain Stop & Shop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeastern Grocers</span> Supermarket portfolio headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida

Southeastern Grocers is a supermarket portfolio headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The portfolio was created by Lone Star Funds in September 2013 as the new parent company for Harveys, Winn-Dixie, and Fresco y Más. Southeastern Grocers was rated #31 in the Forbes 2015 ranking of America's Largest Private Companies. In February 2017, Anthony Hucker was appointed as President and CEO of Southeastern Grocers.

References

  1. ↑ "Contacts Archived 2012-05-22 at the Wayback Machine ." Delhaize Group. Retrieved on May 17, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Delhaize America Reportedly Mulling Sale Of Bottom Dollar". Food Trade News. August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Bottom Dollar Food - Store Openings". Archived from the original on 2011-03-04. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
  4. ↑ "Bottom Dollar Food Debuts in Philly - Business Focus - Supermarket News | Supermarket Chain |Grocery Chain | Grocery Store Chain". Archived from the original on 2011-04-23. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
  5. ↑ Food Lion’s owner closing 126 stores, retiring Bloom banner, Washington Post, January 12, 2012
  6. ↑ List of Food Lion and other stores to be shuttered by Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize Group [ dead link ], Washington Post, January 12, 2012
  7. ↑ "Bottom Dollar Food - News". Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
  8. ↑ "Delhaize Group to Sell 66 Bottom Dollar Food Store Locations". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  9. ↑ All Bottom Dollar stores closed today The Vindicator (01/13/2015)
  10. ↑ Pittsburgh-area Bottom Dollar stores close earlier than planned WPXI (01/13/2015)
  11. ↑ Bottom Dollar future still unknown The Vindicator (03/27/2015)
  12. 1 2 BREAKING NEWS | ALDI to sell or sublease four Bottom Dollar locations in Valley The Vindicator (03/27/2015)
  13. 1 2 Aldi to convert, reopen nine former Bottom Dollar stores in Pittsburgh region Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (03/27/2015)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.