History
Lowes Foods started in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, with a single store that Jim Lowe (former co-owner of Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, and son of its founder) opened in 1954. Lowe sold that store to J.C. Faw. Expansion in Wilkesboro and the mountain regions of NC shortly followed. In 1984, the chain was sold to MDI of Hickory, North Carolina. After MDI bought Institution Food House, Inc., the Lowes chain, MDI, and IFH became divisions of a new company, Alex Lee Inc., formed in 1992 and named for Alex and Lee George, sons of the MDI founder.
In 1997, Alex Lee, the parent company of Lowes, bought Byrd's Food Stores Inc. of Burlington, North Carolina, which had 43 stores. Lowes had 56 stores, few in the area served by Byrd's. The Byrd's stores became Lowes stores. In 2000, Delhaize America had to sell 38 Hannaford stores to satisfy antitrust concerns. Lowes bought 12 of these, six (plus one under construction) in the Research Triangle region and six along the North Carolina coast.
In 2007, Lowes Foods opened its first fuel station at a Hickory, North Carolina, store. As of December 2010, eleven Lowes Foods stores had installed fuel stations to accompany the grocery shopping. Lowes offers a five cent discount per gallon of gas with each $100 spent inside the store.
In 2011, Lowes Foods opened a 'frugal cousin' series of stores called Just $ave. These stores are located mainly in rural areas, targeting budget-conscious shoppers. Just $ave stores have opened in Pilot Mountain, North Wilkesboro, Graham, Roxboro, Asheboro,, Thomasville, Nashville, and Warrenton, all in North Carolina.
On August 15, 2011, Lowes began the Aisle50 program in the Carolinas, intending to expand to other areas and other chains in the future. Deals from aisle50.com will not likely replace coupons, but shoppers will be able to buy certain products for about half their normal prices.
In March 2012, the company stopped selling pink slime and reported that it was only present in ten percent of its products.
On June 1, 2012, the company announced that they were leaving the Charlotte, NC market by trading 10 Charlotte area stores with Harris Teeter for six Western North Carolina stores and $26.5 million in cash
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