Food Lion

[CrazyDe1]

I recently am spending a significant amount of time in NC and decided to go to a grocery store called Food Lion. I refuse to shop there ever again. Anyways, I get there at 7:30 to get a 6 pack of beer. There are 2 people in front of me in line at the checkout. Here's the timeline:

7:32 - Get to checkout line
7:36 - Waiting because the first lady is paying with a check and this takes forever
7:41 - Checker starts scanning the 2nd lady in line's items (there are a total of 5, split up into 2 orders).
7:44 - She pays with food stamps and this process takes forever, she has to sign them, there is a whole process, etc. Nevermind the fact that I worked at a grocery store for 2 years back in the day and never saw anyone pay with a food stamp.
7:45 - A line of 6 peopel backs up behind both checkstands but no help is called. This would never fly at the grocery stores in Colorado. As soon as there are 3 people per line, people get called up, new checkstands open, etc.
7:46 - Checkout lady goes to the back to get baby formula. She's gone for 5 minutes, I'm wondering what the hell is going on.
7:51 - She returns with 2 small cans of formula and 1 big one since they ran out of small cans. Apparently with food stamps you get 4 cans of formula. Well, she proceeds to ring the big can up and it won't ring. So checkout lady explains to food stamp lady 1. that the formula cans are equal (this takes a minute), and 2. that it won't ring up and she'll have to come back since they're out.
7:53 - Both ladies are staring at each other not knowing what to do so finally I cant take it anymore, and go SCAN THE SMALL CAN 4 TIMES. The checkout lady looks confused and is like, we don't have 4 cans. I'm like since they're equivalent scan it 4 times and give her 2 small ones and a big one.
7:55 - Food stamp lady pays with food stamp 2 and I finally get to checkout.
7:57 - I scan my Amex card and apparently they don't accept american express. But the lady doesn't tell me this or does she realize it's an Amex. She scans it 4 times and finally I'm like, you guys don't accept American Express do you? WHAT FRIGGIN GROCERY CHAIN DOESN"T ACCEPT AMERICAN EXPRESS????

I've now officially blacklisted Food Lion. Harris Teeter here I come...

 

[alien42]

reminds me of the expose on food lion years ago where they would re-date the expirations of various products and sell spoiled meats by turning them into meatloaf or mixing with fresh meat. i dont think i have ever or will ever shop there.

 

[sswingle]

Sounds like WIC, not food stamps.

 

[bucwylde23]

No problems whatsoever with the Food Lions in my area.

And yes, that is definitely WIC. I thought food stamps were now actually a card you scan..

 

[BrokenVisage]

Their sweet tea is the greatest sweetened drink I've ever had. Oh how I wish there was just one within driving distance for me, I can only drink it when I'm down in North Carolina on vacation.

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Originally posted by: alien42
reminds me of the expose on food lion years ago where they would re-date the expirations of various products and sell spoiled meats by turning them into meatloaf or mixing with fresh meat. i dont think i have ever or will ever shop there.

They quickly shut down all the food lions around this area after that happened. They just went out of business.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
No problems whatsoever with the Food Lions in my area.

And yes, that is definitely WIC. I thought food stamps were now actually a card you scan..

yeah i thought they went to a debit card type thing?

 

[jmdeathsquad]

their bottled "drinking" water had a brown tint and made me puke

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: jmdeathsquad
their bottled "drinking" water had a brown tint and made me puke

are you sure it was water? eww

 

[bucwylde23]

haha, if the water had a brown tint, there is NO way I would even taste it... you are a brave man

 

[BDawg]

Enjoy Harris Teeter. They are one of the finest grocery store chains around.

My in-laws in Richmond thought Ukrops was the shi* until they visited Harris Teeter.

The only comparable chains are nice Pulbii (plural of Publix?).

 

[2Xtreme21]

Food Lion has excellent ranch dressing.

Whenever we go to the beach we always make sure to stock up and bring some back. Haha.

 

[jmdeathsquad]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
haha, if the water had a brown tint, there is NO way I would even taste it... you are a brave man

well i thought it might have just been the bottle color and I just drank it out of the jug. Also, when the bottle says water you don't expect to be vomiting later.

 

[MajorMullet]

I'll agree with you, Food Lion is horrible. If you want a good grocery store in the Carolinas stick with Lowe's Foods or Harris Teeter.

With Harris Teeter and Lowe's being so nice, Food Lion is actually trying to improve their image in Charlotte and the surrounding area by rebranding some of their stores as "Bloom". The Bloom stores are actually pretty nice, much cleaner and a far better selection of products (http://www.shopbloom.com).

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: MajorMullet
I'll agree with you, Food Lion is horrible. If you want a good grocery store in the Carolinas stick with Lowe's Foods or Harris Teeter.

With Harris Teeter and Lowe's being so nice, Food Lion is actually trying to improve their image in Charlotte and the surrounding area by rebranding some of their stores as "Bloom". The Bloom stores are actually pretty nice, much cleaner and a far better selection of products (http://www.shopbloom.com).

wow i had no idea bloom was food lion. we have bi-lo and used to have winn-dixie but they went out of business.

 

[MisterJackson]

Originally posted by: MajorMullet
I'll agree with you, Food Lion is horrible. If you want a good grocery store in the Carolinas stick with Lowe's Foods or Harris Teeter.

With Harris Teeter and Lowe's being so nice, Food Lion is actually trying to improve their image in Charlotte and the surrounding area by rebranding some of their stores as "Bloom". The Bloom stores are actually pretty nice, much cleaner and a far better selection of products (http://www.shopbloom.com).

Ha, I didn't realize bloom was Food Lion.....Blooms are popping up everywhere here like mad. They're nice, but I still prefer Publix.

BTW OP, most grocery stores in the south are "laid back" like that. Welcome to the dirty south.

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: MajorMullet
I'll agree with you, Food Lion is horrible. If you want a good grocery store in the Carolinas stick with Lowe's Foods or Harris Teeter.

With Harris Teeter and Lowe's being so nice, Food Lion is actually trying to improve their image in Charlotte and the surrounding area by rebranding some of their stores as "Bloom". The Bloom stores are actually pretty nice, much cleaner and a far better selection of products (http://www.shopbloom.com).

Harris Teeter is pretty, but over-priced. We call it the yuppie store. I can't stand Food Lion either for the reasons the OP posted. We shop at Kroger, which seems to fall somewhere in the middle.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: BDawg
Enjoy Harris Teeter. They are one of the finest grocery store chains around.

My in-laws in Richmond thought Ukrops was the shi* until they visited Harris Teeter.

The only comparable chains are nice Pulbii (plural of Publix?).

Publix FTW!

All the Food Lions here in FL got pwned around 98-2002 and either shut down or "became" Kash N Karry's, which then became Sweetbay Supermarkets as of like a year. Moral of the story? You can put a turd in a designer suit, but it's still a fscking turd! They could call the damn things OMG SEX W/JALBA SUPERMARKETS and they'd still suck.

 

[bucwylde23]

The worst grocery store I have ever been to was one called Seamark Foods in the Outer Banks, NC. Nastiest store I've ever been in.

The Harris Teeter looked like it was ready to open soon but wasn't while I was down there this past summer.

It seems like there are 15 food lions there though.

 

[WT]

You were in NC and you went to Food Lion ?? There should have been a Piggly Wigglys nearby as well, and they cater to the ex-Food Lion shoppers. You can fill up on pork rinds and cheap beer all day !!

 

[trmiv]

I've only been to one Food Lion, and it was pretty bad from my limited experience. I'm from California, but I'm moving to NC in June. My parents live in NC now, and we were visiting them last week. My wife and I went to Food Lion in Rolesville to get stuff to make my parents dinner. What a crappy, crappy supermarket. The onions we bought were bad when we cut them open, the garlic was bad, the chicken we bought was frozen solid. Just a bad supermarket, especially compared to the Safeway's and Raley's we shop at here in California. Luckily the area we are moving to has a Harris Teeter and a Lowe's nearby.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Just as an afterthought...I went over to Harris Teeter and it does seem pricey. Just for comparison, I'm used to shopping at King Soopers (basically Kroger), Safeway, and Costco. Safeway is a little pricier than King Soopers.

 

[BDawg]

One of the keys with Harris Teeter is the store brand is often better than the national brand. The President's Choice and HT Traders products are *excellent*.

I don't have an issue with the price. The difference isn't much and the quality is far better. We'd probably shop at Lowes more if there were one convenient to us.

In central NC, we have Food Dog, HT, Lowes, and that's about it. Everything else has gone bust.