Bi-Lo Holdings to retire Sweetbay and Reid’s banners

Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie parent Bi-Lo Holdings plans to retire the Sweetbay and Reid’s banners. The company will begin converting all Sweetbay stores to the Winn-Dixie name and Reid's stores to Bi-Lo in 2014, and confirmed the Harveys banner would remain intact.

The grocery retailer acquired all three banners from Brussels, Belgium-based Delhaize Group last May.

"Sweetbay, Harveys and Reid's have outstanding reputations, and their talented teams of associates have played a key role in making these stores an important part of the communities they serve," said Randall Onstead, president and CEO of Bi-Lo Holdings. "We are pleased to soon welcome the outstanding associates of all three chains to the Bi-Lo Holdings family."

Pending regulatory review, Bi-Lo Holdings intends to retain all store-level associates within the stores being acquired and operated.

The majority of Harveys stores will remain branded as they are today, though a few Harveys stores may convert to the Winn-Dixie or Bi-Lo banner or vice versa.

The transitioning of Sweetbay and Reid's stores to Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo banners is to reduce overlapping footprints, said the company.

The transaction is anticipated to close in first quarter 2014.