Harris Teeter
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Harris Teeter is a chain of upscale supermarkets based in Matthews, North Carolina, just outside Charlotte. The chain operates (as of 2006) approximately 150 stores in six southeastern states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida; the company is expanding into the greater Washington, D.C., market and opened its first store in Maryland (in Darnestown) on October 31, 2006.
Harris Teeter is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Charlotte-based Ruddick Corporation, which also owns the industrial thread manufacturer American and Efird. The current president of Harris Teeter is Fred J. Morganthall II.
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[edit] Origins
Harris Teeter traces its origins to two pioneering entrepreneurs in Depression-era Charlotte. W. T. Harris opened his first supermarket, known as the "Harris Super Market" in 1936 on Central Avenue in Charlotte. This store, now Harris Teeter store #201, is still in operation today.
Harris' store was the first in North Carolina, to allow customers to select their own groceries off a shelf. Prior to this time, customers handed a shopping list to a clerk, who then selected the groceries for the customer. The store was also open until 9 p.m. on Fridays, at a time when most grocery stores closed their doors around 5:00. Later, the Harris Super Market was the first grocery store in Charlotte to add air conditioning.
Meanwhile, Willis L. Teeter and his brother, Paul, opened their first "Teeter's Food Mart" in Mooresville, north of Charlotte, in 1939. Teeter's store implemented many of the innovations pioneered by Harris at his store, and both stores were successful in fairly short order.
Eventually, the two chains contained fifteen total stores by the late 1950s, and in 1958 the companies began sharing storage and buying procedures. The merger of Harris Super Markets and Teeter's Food Marts became official on February 1, 1960; the first store to open under the new banner of Harris Teeter Supermarkets was in Kannapolis.
W.T. Harris Boulevard in Charlotte is named after the founder. It runs across the northern and eastern edges of the city.
[edit] New Ownership and Expansion
The first president of the company under Ruddick's ownership was Hugh Ashcraft, who is unknowingly to many people the inspiration for a now-famous phrase: an incident from World War II in which Ashcraft's plane was riddled with German bullets inspired the song "On a Wing and a Prayer" (it is unknown whether or not Ashcraft himself actually uttered these words, although a similar phrase is on record as attributed to him).
Harris Teeter's 1980 purchase of the Hunter Farms dairy in High Point, North Carolina enabled the company to substantially reduce dairy costs; today, all Harris Teeter-brand and Hunter Farms-brand dairy products come from the Hunter dairy. Hunter also provides dairy products to companies and organizations not associated with Harris Teeter, including convenience stores, schools and even the Wendy's frosty.
In 1984, Harris Teeter purchased several Food World stores in and around Greensboro, also acquiring a warehouse in the western part of Greensboro as part of the purchase. This marked the first foray of the company outside of its Charlotte base, and also began a demographic shift still in process today. Before this point, the company was a grocer in the vein of Piggly Wiggly, where a mix of rural and urban stores made up the company in general. Past this point, Harris Teeter began to focus more on higher-income urban sites. This trend continued with HT's 1988 purchase of Big Star Supermarkets, giving it a foothold in the Raleigh-Durham market.
Ashcraft retired in 1986, and Edward Dunn took over as president of Harris Teeter in that year. On Dunn's watch, Harris Teeter began expansion outside North Carolina. The first expanded stores were in northern South Carolina, near Charlotte; later expansions led the company to Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. The "Very Important Customer" program, popularly known as VIC, was introduced late in Dunn's tenure. This program was one of the first widespread loyalty card programs now popular throughout American grocery stores. The VIC program advertised "giveaways" such as turkeys for Thanksgiving, beach apparel for the summer, and gift cards to Harris Teeter stores.
[edit] Harris Teeter today
Fred Morganthall became president of Harris Teeter upon Dunn's 1997 retirement, and he has overseen further expansion of the supermarket into such markets as Nashville, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Florida, and Washington, D.C. At one time, Harris Teeter had expanded into Atlanta with 15 stores and had plans to further expand, but these plans were only partially fulfilled, and the chain pulled out of the market altogether in 2001. Most of the former Harris Teeter stores in Atlanta were bought by Kroger.
Harris Teeter continues its shift into high-income urban areas to this day; most new stores opened in Morganthall's tenure conforms to this pattern. Stores such as the original Harris Super Market, located near downtown Charlotte, remain grandfathered into the current system.
Recently, Harris Teeter has attempted to differentiate itself from its competitors by providing exceptional customer service and newly "branded" departments. The first department to be "branded" was the meat department, which in June 2002 began offering "Harris Teeter Rancher" beef. This was followed by the introductions of the Farmers' Market (produce department, October 2003), the Fisherman's Market (seafood department, April 2004), and the Fresh Foods Market (deli/bakery, January 2005). Gourmet imported items are sold under the "H.T. Traders" brand.
Harris Teeter stores are separated into two regions and thirteen districts. The Northern Region, based in Raleigh, encompasses stores in northern North Carolina, all of Virginia and Maryland. The Southern Region, based in Charlotte, contains stores in southwestern North Carolina (including Charlotte and its surrounding areas), Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
The official mascot of Harris Teeter is "Harry the Happy Dragon". Its slogan is "Your Neighborhood Food Market", although the older slogan "The Best Is What We're All About" still appears frequently in stores. A new advertising campaign, debuted in late 2004, features the slogan "My Harris Teeter"; it is unknown at this time if this new slogan will supplant or complement the existing ones.
Today, Harris Teeter employs over 14,000, and is the second-largest supermarket chain in North Carolina (Food Lion being number one).
Expansion to the Outer Banks of North Carolina has already begun with stores in Corolla and Nags Head that opened in early 2006. The first store in Maryland will open in Darnestown later in 2006; another Maryland store is planned for Columbia's Village of Kings Contrivance to replace the closed Safeway. According to rumor, yet another would have opened at Rockville Town Center (City of Rockville, Maryland) to replace the currently contracted grocery leasee, "Magruder's." This is no longer the case, and the project is seeking a grocer.
With Harris Teeter's further expansion into the upscale markets, many of their older stores in lower income neighborhoods or small towns are being shut down as a result. A demographic change or increased competition with stores like Wal-Mart Supercenter could be to blame for decrease in sales at these stores. One of Harris Teeter's oldest stores at Eastland Mall in Charlotte closed on June 27, 2006.
Harris Teeter now only operates one store in Florida. The Jacksonville, Florida Madarin area store closed in 2004. October 3, 2006 brought the closing of its Ponte Vedra Beach[1] location leaving only one location left, its Amelia Island store.
The chain's largest store opened in Greensboro's The Shops at Friendly Center on November 8, 2006 and it encompasses 72,000 square feet. [2]
