JDH Capital : News
STOCKED AND READY TO GO
16 Nov 2008
New Food Lion supermarket to debut Wednesday.
By TROY ROBERTS
troberts@lakecityreporter.com
The numbers on the countdown clock, located at the corner of U.S. Highway 90 West and Pinemount Road, continue to tick away, reminding passing motorists that the opening of Lake City’s new Food Lion supermarket is just days away.
The 35,000-square-foot, newly conceived grocery store is scheduled to open Wednesday morning, adding a new convenience to Columbia and Suwannee county residents who live west of Lake City. The supermarket is part of the new JDH Capital-developed Heritage Oaks Shopping Center which also will be home to a Family Dollar and other new stores in the coming months.
Food Lion is no stranger to Lake City — its old store in the former Kmart shopping center operated for nearly 20 years, until its forced closure in May when the Pelican Group, the shopping center’s owner, forced tenants out because of a sinkhole threat.
But even before the supermarket’s closure, Food Lion had plans to build a completely new, redesigned prototype store in Lake City on the west side of town.
“It’s a brand-new design that Food Lion has introduced,” said Karen Peterson, spokeswoman for Food Lion. “This is the first one of its kind in Florida and we’re very excited about it. It offers a different type of shopping experience — it’s very friendly, easy to navigate and I think customers will find an enjoyable experience as they move from one market to another inside the store.”
The style of the new store is reminiscent of an old-style market, with each of the various store departments decorated differently. The departments vary in style of lighting — produce, for example, is lit by spotlights while the frozen foods section is illuminated by the glow of the freezers — and each also has a different style of store front sign above the department, such as the meat section’s brick finish with the painted words, “Quality Meats.”
The new Food Lion also boasts wider aisles, lower shelving — making those top shelf items no longer just out of reach — an extended line of deli products, a chilled wine section and other new additions.
Store manager Michael Williams said the new store is approximately 10,000 square feet bigger than its previous location, and also said its ambiance is quite different
than the Food Lion people have come to know. He said the public’s perception of the supermarket chain will definitely change for the better when they step into the new store.
Williams said the store’s exterior is only a glimpse of what they will see when they go inside.
“I think people in Lake City are going to walk in and think, ‘Wow, this is Food Lion? I like it,’” Williams said. “When they walk inside, they’re going to forget what the outside looks like.”
Yet not everything in the building will be new: Former managers form the old Food Lion will operate the new one.
“That really excites me, because the more experience you’ve got for a store, the better,” Williams said.
Williams said the new store will not only benefit Lake City residents, but also those in Wellborn and other areas of nearby Suwannee County because of the supermarket’s prime location in western Columbia County.
Also, Food Lion won’t be alone in the new Heritage Oaks Shopping Center for long. Family Dollar will neighbor the center’s anchor store and more than a dozen suites are located in the shopping center.
Sheri Faulkner, director of marketing and research with JDH Capital, said there are more than 20 of its shopping centers in the southeastern U.S. that feature tenants such as restaurants, dry cleaners, fitness clubs and child care centers.
The Lake City venture is JDH Capital’s first shopping center in the state of Florida.
Food Lion will host a grand opening ceremony beginning at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, with a ribbon-cutting to follow at 8 a.m. The store will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Shoppers who visit the store on opening day will have the opportunity to win free groceries for a month — a $1,000 value — courtesy of JDH. Registration for the drawing takes place between 8 a.m. and noon.
