Food Lion pulls plans for Triangle Bloom stores

Food Lion will not bring its newer, flashier and more tech-savvy Bloom stores to the Triangle after all.

The Salisbury-based company confirmed today that it is pulling plans to open four Bloom stores in this market. Instead, the four properties -- some of which are already under development -- will all become Food Lion stores instead.

Spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown said the company is choosing to focus on increasing the number of Bloom stores in existing markets rather than expanding into new ones. Raleigh was the only market into which Food Lion was supposed to expand Bloom this year.

The stores are known for marketing to younger shoppers, with more tech-driven features such as recipe kiosks and scanner guns that shoppers can use as they shop.

Of the four stores, the one in Morrisville on Morrisville-Carpenter Road and the one in Clayton on Athletic Club Boulevard will open by the end of the year, Phillips-Brown said. The other two in Cary on Ten-Ten Road and in Raleigh on Ray Road will follow.

"We have a strong presence in Raleigh with Food Lion, and we're confident that Food Lion will meet the needs of customers in the market," she said.

And Phillips-Brown did not rule out an eventual expansion of Bloom into the market, though she said there are no further plans at this time. The Bloom chain, which was launched in 2004, has 66 stores, including one opening in Charlotte this week.