Food Lion will try again on Hilton Head Island. Here’s where it will be located
About 14 years after it closed an underperforming Hilton Head store, Food Lion is planning to open a new location on the island.
Plans have been submitted for a new Food Lion at the former Sam’s Club site at 93 Mathews Drive in Port Royal Plaza. Most recently, a 20-year memorandum of lease was signed Oct. 9 between the grocery chain and landlord Barony Fund I Investment LLC for a 41,000-square-foot store.
The Sam’s Club property is owned by Hilton Head businessman J.R. Richardson, who bought it in February 2024 for $5.8 million. Part of the site has already been redeveloped into Dill Dinkers Pickleball.
Food Lion operated for almost 22 years on the island, from May 1990 to early 2012. When it closed, Hilton Head was one of 113 underperforming stores shuttered by the North Carolina-based supermarket chain.
Now Food Lion is trying again on Hilton Head, hoping to breathe new life into a retail space considered by many to be a mid-island eyesore. And it’s coming to a space where projects have been promised in the past, only to never materialize.
The old Sam’s Club spot
Sam’s Club packed its bags on Hilton Head in 2017 to move across the bridge to Bluffton. This set off years of trouble for the Port Royal Plaza space, where much has been promised over years of vacancy.
About two years after Sam’s closed in 2019, Florida-based Bealls Inc. submitted a proposal to put two of its stores — Burke’s Outlet and Home Centric — in the space. Two years later, Go Store It self-storage facility planned to fill the space, but ultimately withdrew the plans after pushback from the community and town officials.
Most recently, “homegrown” grocer Lowes Foods filed plans to move into the space. Lowes is expanding its presence in South Carolina; the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based company said in May that it will convert a Kj’s Marketplace in John’s Island into one of its stores. But Hilton Head never materialized.
Richardson’s purchase of the plaza was an indication that things were getting serious. His company, the Richardson Group, is a Hilton Head stronghold, and Richardson’s father James Norris “Big Daddy” Richardson is responsible for the shopping center that eventually became Coligny Plaza.
JR Richardson created the gated Windmill Harbour community along the Intracoastal Waterway, as well as the South Carolina Yacht Club. Richardson also opened Westbury Park in Bluffton and pizza restaurant Local Pie.
The pickleball facility at the site opened in May 2025.
Lee Lucier, COO at the Richardson Group, did not respond to requests for more information.
Other tenants at Port Royal Plaza include Street Meet tavern, OKKO Japanese Sushi & Hibachi Restaurant and Planet Fitness.
What is Food Lion?
Food Lion is a regional supermarket chain with locations mostly scattered throughout the southeast, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. It is one of 17 companies owned by Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch-Belgian food retail group that also owns northeast-centric chains like Stop & Shop, Giant Food and Hannaford.
Although it’s based in Europe, the U.S. is Ahold Delhaize’s largest market, with 2,017 stores in the third quarter of 2025. The company seemed to indicate Food Lion was performing relatively well in the third quarter; the chain reported 52 consecutive quarters of comparable store sales growth and was the driver of a 15.4% increase in U.S. online sales.
Food Lion also began work on 92 store remodels in the Greensboro, North Carolina, area in the third quarter, and launched 153 omnichannel remodels at 153 Charlotte, North Carolina-area stores. Ahold Delhaize is also building a new North Carolina distribution center to meet “growing capacity demands,” the company said in its report.
In the Lowcountry, the company currently has one store in Bluffton, one in Okatie, two in Beaufort, one in Lady’s Island and one in Shell Point near Parris Island.
A Food Lion spokesperson said that over the years, the company has worked to evolve its store format, product assortment and omnichannel capabilities to meet the needs of the communities it serves.
“We’re confident this approach positions us well for success in this market,” the company said of its future Hilton Head store. “We look forward to building lasting relationships and helping customers easily access the food they need to nourish their families.”