More Lowes Foods are scheduled to open in Columbia, Lexington
Lowes Foods announced plans to open two more grocery stores in the Columbia area.
The supermarket’s parent company, Alex Lee, signed an agreement to buy two Bi-Lo grocery stores in the area and renovate the locations into Lowes, officials said in a news release.
The Bi-Lo market at 120 Forum Drive in the northeast part of Richland County and the location at 1419 Chapin Road in Lexington County are expected to be converted into Lowes by the summer of 2021, according to the release.
They will join three other Lowes locations operating in the Midlands — on Sunset Boulevard and Augusta Highway in Lexington, along with the grocery store on Forest Drive in Columbia.
“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to accelerate our Carolinas expansion in the Columbia market with the addition of two new stores,” Lowes Foods President Tim Lowe said in the release. “People from the Columbia market have welcomed Lowes Foods with open arms since we opened our first store in Lexington in 2017, and we look forward to serving even more Lowes Foods fans with the two new stores this fall.”
The purchase of the Midlands stores is part of larger deal, with Lowes buying 20 Bi-Lo stores in South Carolina and Georgia, according to a news release. Only five of the stores will be converted into Lowes, with the others operating as KJ’s Market IGA, officials said.
The new Midlands locations will continue to operate as Bi-Lo supermarkets until the deal is expected to be finalized in the fall, officials said. Once the changes are made, customers at those locations will have access to specialty shopping areas called Lowes Foods Originals.
That includes an expanded wine section, a revamped bakery, Smokehouse ribs and BBQ, SausageWorks sausages, as well as Chicken Kitchen products including fried chicken, rotisserie chicken, chicken wings and in-store made chicken salad and chicken pot pies, according to the release.
The upgraded stores will also add Boar’s Head meats and cheeses, in addition to more organic and specialty products, and a larger floral department, officials said.
In addition to the two stores in the Columbia area, the other Bi-Lo stores that will be converted are in South Carolina’s Lowcounty and Upstate regions. Two of the Bi-Lo stores are in Charleston, and another in Greenville will undergo similar conversions, according to the release.
More than 2,000 employees are expected to be hired to serve the communities where the 20 stores are located, officials said. The new owners said they will meet with all Bi-Lo employees “to discuss employment opportunities.”
This is the latest transaction involving Bi-Lo stores in the Midlands being sold to another supermarket chain.
In July, a Food Lion opened in a former Bi-Lo at 2916 Emanuel Church Road in West Columbia.
In June, Food Lion announced it acquired more than five dozen Bi-Lo and Harveys supermarkets across South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. That includes several in Columbia, Lexington, and across the Midlands.
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