ABSTRACT
Food Lion uses a new technique to put new shelving on top of old shelves to make the process faster and less expensive. The company’s standard lease is for 20 years, and once a lease expires a store is usually remodeled or moved to a better location. Tom Smith says convenience has become a customer’s chief concern after price. Convenience takes the form of two express lanes for customers. Plenty of cashiers man the checkout lanes, and bag boys continue to load groceries into customers’ cars. Computers fill slots at the front of stores for cashiers to quickly check the prices of unmarked merchandise. Scanners in new stores have speeded up the checkout process. Lee Wilder, analyst at Robinson-Humphrey Co., Atlanta, contends that Food Lion will have to offer more costly perishables to stay competitive.
