The Food Lion grocery store on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge could close by June 20, a spokesperson said Thursday.
The Food Lion grocery store on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge could close by June 20 because the company is not renewing its lease on the property, a spokesperson said.
Store employees were notified of the decision on Thursday, said Christy Phillips-Brown, a corporate spokesperson for Food Lion.
She did not know the precise number of employees at the Oak Ridge store, but she said there are, on average, about 40 associates at each store.
The Oak Ridge store could close “on or before June 20,” Phillips-Brown said.
Phillips-Brown said employees in an Augusta, Ga., store were also told Thursday that their store would close because its lease is not being renewed.
Phillips-Brown said Food Lion is performing well overall, but the company made the difficult decision to not renew the leases in Oak Ridge and Augusta.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Lawrence Joseph moore says
Sad. That’s my store. ..
Cindy McCullough says
I feel sorry for the employees. One cashier I know was a somewhat more recent hire and had moved her from elsewhere. Sad to hire people maybe two months before corporate decides to close the store.
Karen Zebroski says
No grocery store on the East end now. Always was a great place to shop. Fast check out and was always greeted by the employees. A huge loss to Oak Ridge.
Walter K. Hyatt says
They probably didn’t want to compete with the new Krogers either…I went there some too, we on the East End do need a full service grocery store now for sure. Now it will be just as quick to go to Clinton Food City and that store has gas too, while the Oak Ridge Food City Store does not. Plenty of room on the East End, for maybe an Ingles.