Delhaize will bring down the Bloom banner

Delhaize Group said it will eliminate the Bloom banner, launched in 2004. The company will convert 42 Bloom stores to Food Lion locations and close the remaining seven. Delhaize also will close 113 Food Lion stores. Bloom focuses on convenience, selling prepared food and using technology such as hand-held scanners. However, "the macro problem with Bloom is, how do you support from an expense standpoint a new banner that doesn't really have any meaningful market share anywhere?" said Neil Stern, a senior partner at McMillanDoolittle. Supermarket News