Dive Brief:
- Bottom Dollar Food, a supermarket chain in Pennsylvania, will close all 66 of its stores by Jan. 15.
- The chain, owned by Delhaize, operated 46 stores around Philadelphia area and 20 in and around Pittsburgh.
- Delhaize announced in November that it would shutter the chain and sell its locations and leases to discount supermarket chain Aldi.
Dive Insight:
We wouldn't want to read too much into the closure of Bottom Dollar Food, but there are two things worth noting here that imply a broader impact on the industry.
First, Meg Ham, the executive who presumably made the decision to close Bottom Dollar and sell its assets to Aldi, is now the executive in charge of Delhaize's Food Lion chain. We can't imagine Delhaize shuttering that brand, nor can we imagine things staying the same there under her rule.
Second, the acquisition of those 66 sites gives Aldi a major step forward in its plan, announced almost exactly a year ago, to add 650 stores in North America.