Food Lion to give away groceries in one Raleigh neighborhood

Homeowners in one Raleigh neighborhood will wake up to free groceries on Saturday, June 16.

Food Lion employees with be unloading 15 heaping shopping carts, rolling them up to peoples front porches and ringing doorbells.

Unsuspecting residents will be asked to help themselves to five items each out of the carts.

The name of the neighborhood is being kept under wraps, said Food Lion spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown. But doorbells will start ringing at 10 a.m.

The Saturday morning stunt dubbed Operation Grocery Drop is the latest of several marketing campaigns launched to create buzz about the Food Lion chain, which has struggled in recent years.

In January, Food Lions parent company, the Belgian conglomerate Delhaize Group, announced it would close 126 underperforming stores across its three brands 113 of them Food Lion stores, including one in Cary.

In March, Food Lion offered a double coupon promotion for two weeks in its Triangle stores. It was the first time Food Lion had offered double coupons in the highly competitive Triangle grocery market, where competitors routinely double the face value of coupons.

Last year, the grocer cut prices on 6,000 items, reorganized shelves, added shopping carts, increased staffing and made efforts to improve customer service.

Raleigh will be the first city to host the grocery giveaway, but the retailer will do it again in other locations, Phillips-Brown said.

In addition to the free groceries, residents will be given coupons for Food Lions My Essentials brand of products.

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Food Lion to give away groceries in one Raleigh neighborhood