Weis Markets is now expanding in the Mid-Atlantic. After buying 38 Lion Food stores which also includes twelve from the Baltimore area.
Food Lion's parent company is letting go of stores to pacify anti-trust regulators as part of its merger with Giant Food.
Ahold, owner of Food Lion parent Delhaize Group, said that they are selling a total of 86 stores in the United States. According to reports, this transaction was made in an effort to get the approval for their merger from the Federal Trade Commission. That was the biggest challenge before the deal pushed through. The merger cost $29 billion and it would be named as one of the largest supermarket chains in the United States and also in Europe.
Frans Muller, the president and CEO of Delhaize, based in Belgium, said that selling stores is a difficult thing to do "given the impact on our associates, customers and communities in which we operate."
In order to create a solid deal, the companies ensured that every effort was made to identify strong buyers for their stores. In total, there are 21 Maryland stores from the 38 Food Lions stores that Weis Markets is looking at buying. The rest are in Delaware and Virginia. This acquisition would enable the company to expand further right after acquiring the five Mars Super Market stores in Baltimore.
Jeremy Diamond, the director of the Diamond Marketing Group which is based in Baltimore, analyzed the situation and said that he would opt for Weis Markets to become bigger and be the "more dominant player in our market."
The company has been pushing to expand and as for the track record, Diamond said that they do not have any debt which is rare for a grocer company.
President and CEO Jonathan Weis, said that the deal enables them to expand into markets that are contiguous to the current trade area.
