SALISBURY, N.C. — The Food Lion banner of Ahold Delhaize USA has expanded its Food Lion To-Go grocery pickup service to several new locations. It is now available at a total of 105 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

To drive trial, the southeastern grocery chain is offering the first pickup for free. Ordinarily there is a $3.99 charge per order for the service, unless the order totals more than $35, in which case the fee is $1.99.

“We are so excited to bring this convenient service to more stores in the Food Lion footprint and enable customers to spend more time on what matters most to them,” says Deborah Sabo, senior vice president of marketing for Food Lion. With the Food Lion To-Go service, our associates become personal shoppers and are able to hand pick the freshest produce and best cuts of meat, just as they would for their own family. We look forward to continuing to nourish our neighbors with this new convenient service.”

Customers who wish to use the online service can visit shop.foodlion.com and enter their ZIP code to select the closest participating store. They can then fill a virtual grocery cart, pick a day and hour window within which they will pick up the groceries, and check out. A trained Food Lion employee accepts the order and prepares it at the store the customer has designated.

On arriving at the store, customers using the service may park in a designated parking area, where a Food Lion staff member will deliver their order directly to their car. The service is available seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.

One of the locations featuring the Food Lion To-Go service is a new store that opened recently in Monroe, N.C. The new outlet, which is the chain’s fourth in Monroe, replaces another Food Lion.

Customers shopping the new store can select from an expanded variety of products, including in-store fresh-cut fruit, made-in-store hand-battered buttermilk fried chicken and several other new items. Also available is a wide range of products carrying Food Lion’s Nature’s Promise brand, which is free from such ingredients as artificial additives, preservatives and colors. The line encompasses beef, pork, poultry, milk, eggs, bottled water, cereal, coffee and other items.

In addition, the location features grab-and-go meals, freshly made sushi, and an expanded health and beauty aids ­department.