I think you may be able to best judge by what Food Lion acquisitions have already shut down. I do quite wonder if the divestment agreements have lapsed over at Shop 'n Save or if that did not count. In any case throughout the areas Food Lion has sold to Weis, I do hope they'll have a solid chain in line to take their presence.mjhale wrote: ↑May 31st, 2021, 8:53 pm I recall reading perhaps over on the Acme Style blog that Weis does not remodel acquired stores until they absolutely know things are going to work out. This isn't anything new for Weis. In the 90s when I was at Shippensburg University Weis bought the local Cresslers chain. Cresslers had just built a modern supermerket south of town which Weis wanted as a replacement for their aging, small store northeast of town in the then Kmart Shopping Center. It wasn't until a good five years or so later that I recall that Weis actually took down the Cresslers interior and made the store look like a Weis. (Side Note: The Cresslers in Chambersburg was originally built in the 1950 or 60s as another grocery store that I don't recall. The store was on Route 30 near the hospital and was demolished for a new build Walgreens.)
My guess is that the stores that Weis acquired that have not received any interior work from Weis and are not the only game in town will go quietly either when the lease is up or when Weis' operation agreement as a part of the Ahold-Delhaize divestitures expires. I suppose Weis thought this might be another opportunity to get out of their PA stronghold. But it seems they just can't do that much in suburban areas when there is competition. To bring this back to Winchester, perhaps if Weis wants to expand they should continue down I-81. That area is similar to what they are used to operating in. The next major town down I-81 from Martinsburg is of course Winchester.
Lastly regarding Fredericksburg, I completely agree with you. Winn-Dixie stopped in Fredericksburg. So did Ukrops. And Publix did too until their recent Stafford location opened. For a long time the only Wal-Mart Supercenters near the southern DC area were in Culpeper and Fredericksburg. Interestingly Giant still has Fredericksburg locations but I believe they wanted to offload those and keep the Food Lion locations until the community protested. I've always thought that for retail, and especially grocery that Fredericksburg is the last stop before the DC market. If this is really true I have to wonder when Publix will finally make a stab at DC proper.
These are the only places around here you'll be able to see older Food Lion decor, as the nearby locations Food Lion retained have finally undergone a remodel wave. As for remodels, there has been at least one FL acquisition that I know has remodeled. It happens to be a rather interesting job though - walls repainted with many Bloom artifacts remaining and a pharmacy shoehorned into the front end.
Certainly agree, I'd say that about a few fast food chains like Hardee's or Cook Out for instance.
Publix-wise, I have not heard of any direct interest just yet in going further than Stafford. There have however been some rather convincing sites for potential Publix stores in NoVA from renderings/brochures I've seen.
And yes, Walmart was probably the last market in the country to get Supercenters. I don't understand NoVA skipping out on them, but some suburban Maryland counties such as Prince George's and Montgomery have demonstrated resistancet to Walmart expanding existing stores or opening new SCs.
On the topic of Giant, Ahold and Delhaize seemed to have been fickle as to where they'd keep their overlap, as both Food Lion and Giant-MD coexist in different pockets of the region to this day. Giant also seems to be the only consistent standard grocer in Fredericksburg/Stafford besides Weis.