Dive Brief:
- Giant Food and The Giant Company plan to shutter their centralized e-commerce fulfillment centers by the end of the first quarter of 2026, according to a Friday announcement from parent company Ahold Delhaize USA.
- The closing facilities include Giant Food’s centralized e-commerce center in Manassas, Virginia, as well as The Giant Company’s fulfillment centers in Philadelphia, Willow Grove, Coopersburg, North Coventry and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
- Ahold Delhaize USA said it opted to close the facilities after concluding that “customers are increasingly expecting fast delivery, more assortment and delivery availability” and that it can better meet their preferences through in-store fulfillment.
Dive Insight:
The six upcoming e-commerce facility closures reflect an accelerating trend in the grocery industry that has seen retailers step up their reliance on individual stores to assemble digital orders after formerly highlighting the benefits of fulfilling orders at regional centers.
For example, when The Giant Company announced plans to open the Lancaster center in 2018, the chain touted the facility as a way to provide e-commerce services more efficiently and rapidly build capacity. But in disclosing that the center will close, Ahold Delhaize USA noted that it has been moving to a store-based fulfillment process to “offer greater customer availability at faster speeds.”
“This strategy has been enabled by strong technology improvements and partnerships and team members who execute every day in stores,” the company added.
Ahold Delhaize USA said it would offer employees whose positions are being eliminated other roles within the banner they work for or the opportunity to apply for open positions.
According to a regulatory notice The Giant Company filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the closure of the Philadelphia facility will close on Feb. 13, resulting in the loss of 128 jobs. Giant Food said in a notice filed with the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement that it expects the closure of its facility to take effect on Feb. 10, 2026, and cost about 90 workers their positions.
Ahold Delhaize USA said its grocery chains will continue working with third-party fulfillment providers, including Instacart and DoorDash. The company, which operates grocery banners Food Lion, Stop & Shop and Hannaford in addition to Giant Food and The Giant Company, said its relationships with those providers position it to handle fast-turnaround orders and provide goods to customers in as little as 30 minutes.
Ahold Delhaize USA added that it will record estimated non-cash impairment charges of $15 million and $35 million related to the closures of the facilities run by Giant Food and The Giant Company, respectively.
Ahold Delhaize USA isn’t the only U.S. grocery company transitioning to in-store fulfillment. In November, Kroger said it intends to close several of the automated fulfillment centers it built in partnership with U.K.-based warehouse robotics specialist Ocado as the supermarket chain pivots to a store-based e-commerce fulfillment model. The facilities are set to cease operations in early 2026.
