Deli / Prepared Foods

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Food Lion today is unveiling the first of three stores to open in Spartanburg County, S.C. this year. The store is the prototype for Food Lion's future upstate South Carolina stores.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- As organic and natural foods move increasingly into the mainstream, Big Y here will introduce a new store format this autumn to tap into the trend. The new format, to be called Fresh Acres, is a smaller footprint than other Big Y units, offering fresh, natural, and easy-to-prepare items for busy shoppers, according to company executives.

UPPER DARBY, Penn. -- On the heels of opening its latest store May 24 in Villanova, Pa., Fresh Grocer, based here, said it will open five new stores throughout the Delaware Valley.

With Wal-Mart gung ho on organics, suppliers and retailers alike will need to rethink their strategies.

STELLARTON, N.S. -- In what the retailer is touting as a first for Canadian private label brands on a national level, Sobeys, Inc. here yesterday said it had expanded its private label portfolio, Compliments, to include a line of good-for-you products, known as Compliments balance-équilibre. All Compliments balance-équilibre items sport the Health Check symbol under the aegis of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Healthy snack manufacturers and retailers have started wooing the back-to-school market with new products, packaging, promotions, and displays.

Can the produce department draw kids like the cereal and cookie aisles do?

Cramming higher quality, fresher foods, and better shopping into efficient footprints -- today's best c-stores are proof that good things come in small packages.