Several Columbia-area BI-LO grocery stores are closing pharmacies. Here’s the list
Four Columbia-area BI-LO groceries have or will close their pharmacies as a result of a pending sale of the stores to Food Lion.
Pharmacies in other area stores that are not part of the sale — Garners Ferry Road, Augusta Road in West Columbia and the Village at Sandhill — will remain open.
“All BI-LO stores not included in the Food Lion transaction will continue operating normally while we actively explore strategic options for these stores,” Joe Caldwell a spokesman for BI-LO parent company Southeastern Grocers, said from the company’s corporate offices in Jacksonville, Fla..
The stores closing their pharmacies are:
- 300 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce
- 4464 Devine St., Columbia
- 6021 St. Andrews Road, Columbia
- 2453 Charleston Highway, Cayce
The Knox Abbott BI-LO will close its pharmacy Sunday and prescriptions will be transferred to the CVS at 500 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce.
The Devine Street store has already closed its pharmacy and prescriptions were transferred to the Walgreen’s store across the street at 4467 Devine St.
The St. Andrews pharmacy is also closed and customers’ prescriptions have been transferred to Walgreen’s at 6118 St. Andrews Road.
The Charleston Highway store’s pharmacy is already closed with prescriptions going to the CVS at 2410 Charleston Highway.
The Winnsboro BI-LO on U.S. 321, also included in the sale, does not have a pharmacy.
The company noted that customers by law can transfer their prescriptions to another pharmacy.
“We are required to designate a receiving pharmacy, but customers will have the option to transfer to any pharmacy of their choosing,” spokesman Caldwell said, adding that “our customers’ information will be handled carefully and confidentially.”
Food Lion announced the upcoming acquisition earlier this month, saying it will hire at least 4,650 employees to work at the 62 stores across South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina.
There are 83 BI-LO stores in South Carolina and 38 of them were included in this sale, Caldwell said. There are a total of 46 BI-LO stores that are part of the pending transaction, including one in North Carolina and seven in Georgia.
The stores will be converted to the Food Lion brand sometime between January and April 2021, the company said, and will remain open and operating as BI-LO stores until the acquisition is complete.
In addition to selling the 62 Harvey’s and BI-LO stores to Food Lion, Southeastern Grocers also will transition a distribution center in Mauldin to Ahold Delhaize USA Distribution, which will support the newly acquired stores as well as current Food Lion stores.
There are no Harveys Supermarket stores in the Midlands.
Food Lion currently operates at least 116 stores in South Carolina, according to the company.
The chains have the largest number of stores in the Midlands.
Food Lion has the most locations — 24, soon to be 29 — in Richland, Lexington and Fairfield counties. Bi-Lo has the second-largest with 16, soon to be 11.
Bi-Lo LLC is a privately held company that operates 214 supermarkets in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee and employs around 15,500 people. It filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in March.
Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., has more than 1,300 stores in 11 states with 74,000 employees.