Lowes Foods

Lowes Foods began in 1954 as a single store in North Wilkesboro, NC, and has grown to become a major supermarket chain operating in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The company grew rapidly during the 1960s, '70s and early '80s.

Lowes Foods was acquired by Merchants Distributors, Inc. (MDI) in 1984 and began an aggressive expansion program in 1986, opening 19 stores over the next four years. In 1997, Lowes Foods acquired Byrds Food Stores, located in eastern North Carolina.

It continued its growth in 2000 with the purchase of 13 Hannaford stores. Today Lowes Foods operates close to 100 stores and continues to open new stores throughout North and South Carolina. Lowes Foods continued to expand by opening its first Lowes Foods Fuel station in 2007.

In 2010, a new Lowes Foods concept store was opened in Hickory, NC and in 2011, we introduced a new value format called Just$ave.