Bloom (store)
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Defunct | 2012 |
| Fate | Rebranded as Food Lion |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Richard Hagen, president |
| Products | Groceries |
| Parent | Food Lion |
| Website | shopbloom.com |
Bloom was a mid-tier American grocery chain managed by Food Lion, launched in 2004. The Delhaize Group, Food Lion’s parent company, declared in January 2012 that the Bloom brand would be phased out. The corporate headquarters were situated in Salisbury, North Carolina.[1]
History
In 2002, recognizing shifts in consumer preferences and behaviors becoming more varied, Food Lion assembled a cross-disciplinary "concept" team tasked with analyzing retail and customer trends, uncovering growth possibilities, and designing new retail formats to capitalize on those insights. This initiative led to the creation of Bloom.[2]
Initially branded as Bloom, A Food Lion Market, the concept was piloted through five stores in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the inaugural location opening on May 26, 2004. The design focused on enhancing shopper convenience by employing a somewhat unconventional store layout. Features included a TableTop area near the entrance offering ready-to-eat meals, broader aisles for ease of movement, and strategic food groupings. Typically, milk was positioned at the front of most stores to avoid customers having to navigate to the rear as is customary.[3]
To further distinguish itself from competitors, Bloom integrated customer-friendly technology such as self-checkout kiosks, PAT (Personal Assistant Technology) — an innovative touchscreen device utilizing an in-store wireless network — and produce scales equipped with printers that generated bar-coded labels for shoppers. These technologies were installed in the majority of locations to enhance the shopping experience.[4]
By March 2011, Delhaize America announced plans to convert fifteen Bloom outlets located in the Charlotte, North Carolina and Greenville, South Carolina regions into Food Lion stores. This restructuring occasionally resulted in two Food Lion supermarkets operating within a mile of each other.
In January 2012, Delhaize revealed a strategic reorganization of its U.S. operations which included retiring the Bloom brand entirely; remaining Bloom stores were either rebranded as Food Lion or shuttered.[5]
Slogans
- "Thought for Food."
- "A Food Lion Market."
- "A Different Kind of Grocery Store."
References
- ↑ "Contacts Archived 2012-05-22 at the Wayback Machine." Delhaize Group. Retrieved on May 17, 2012. "DELHAIZE GROUP U.S. P.O. Box 1330, 2110 Executive Drive Salisbury NC 28145-1330 United States" and "FOOD LION, BLOOM & BOTTOM DOLLAR FOOD P.O. Box 1330, 2110 Executive Drive Salisbury NC 28145-1330 - U.S.A. "
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- ↑ Food Lion’s owner closing 126 stores, retiring Bloom banner, Washington Post, January 12, 2012
External links
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- Pages with script errors
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Articles with short description
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- American companies established in 2004
- Retail companies established in 2004
- Retail companies disestablished in 2012
- Defunct supermarkets of the United States
- Defunct companies based in North Carolina