Staff report

SALISBURY — Food Lion will celebrate 60 years in business today.

To commemorate the milestone, the company will randomly select customers to win 60 percent off their purchase at each of its more than 1,000 stores, as well as provide shoppers a chance to win $10 gift cards.

The company will fill a time capsule with mementos submitted by stores across its 10-state footprint. A ceremony for that is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at corporate headquarters in Salisbury.

“It is an honor to celebrate 60 years of low prices, fresh products and community involvement with our company today,” said Food Lion President Meg Ham. “The reason Food Lion is still a proud partner in each of the towns and cities we serve is a strong testament to our loyal customers, who choose to shop with us, and to each of our associates, who take pride in serving them and showing them how much we care every day.”

Today, four MVP shoppers at each Food Lion store will win a 60 percent discount when they shop with their personal MVP card. The discount will be deducted at checkout.

Beginning at 1 p.m. and at the top of each hour, the first customer to correctly answer a trivia question announced in the store will win a $10 gift card.

Food Lion also has partnered with communities to hold events throughout the year in honor of its 60th anniversary. The company remodeled and restocked 60 food pantries for 60 years as part of the Great Pantry Makeover in 2017. Food Lion donated more than 2.5 million meals and 2,000 volunteer hours through this campaign, its largest annual associate volunteer initiative.

In September, leaders and associates joined to set a Guinness World Records title for the “Most Bagged Lunches Assembled in One Hour.” All of the 10,320 lunches were donated to local schools and food banks in the Hot Springs, Virginia, market, where the meals were assembled.

In October, the company held its inaugural 6K Lion’s Run, which started and ended at the site of Food Lion Store No. 1 in its hometown of Salisbury. The run provided 250,000 meals to benefit Rowan Helping Ministries in Salisbury and Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte.

More information on Food Lion’s history is available in a digital copy of the company’s 60th anniversary book, “A Neighbor to Count On.” A Neighbor to Count On.