Charlotte Supermarkets

[DCMetroRaleigh]

I am no expert on corporate takeovers / mergers but I'll make a couple of observations anyway.

1) It does not appear (to me) that Ruddick is looking to sell Teeter (mostly based on recent store expansions and a healthy stock price keeps shareholders happy)

2) While Wegman's is a private company some estimates of their financials are available (http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/40/40526.html) This shows there revenue to be about equal to that of Ruddick. Since Ruddick is a public company and its stock has performed well over the recent past I would think they have more options to acquire additional capital than Wegman's would

3) Some reports suggest that Wegmans is focused on expanding into New England rather than the South.http://rocnow.com/article/business/2009911040355 Its distribution network supports this expectation (it appears that they serve the DC area stores from a Pennsylvania center)

4) While not a huge deal there are some cultural barriers for a New York grocery chain operating in the South (which may make new Southern stores less profitable in the short term)

It's not like Raleigh-Durham culture is very much different from DC or Northern Virginia culture. In fact, many use the term "Mid Atlantic to refer to RDU and parts of North Carolina.

[kermit]

It's not like Raleigh-Durham culture is very much different from DC or Northern Virginia culture. In fact, many use the term "Mid Atlantic to refer to RDU and parts of North Carolina.

At the surface I agree, the cultures are not that different, but food is really where the cultural rubber meets the road. When the roughly 70% of RDU residents that are natives of NC go to a new grocer and don't see texas pete, mt olive pickles, good collards, decent grits or the right kind of sausage (for example) they are not likely to return to the store again.

[southslider]

^And how many Cary residents are NC natives? Not surprisingly, that's where you have the most HT stores in RDU, just as they are concentrated here within South Charlotte.

And those are exactly the sub-areas within Mid-Atlantic metros, where the affluent transplants live, that Wegmans would seek to serve. Within DC, HT and Wegmans overlap, with both of their stores concentrated within Fairfax County. But again, neither Cary nor Fairfax feel all that Southern.

[caterpillar2]

It's not like Raleigh-Durham culture is very much different from DC or Northern Virginia culture. In fact, many use the term "Mid Atlantic to refer to RDU and parts of North Carolina.

To be honest, if you don't live in Washington, Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, there isn't much difference in cultures as far as groceries are concerned. I spend much of the year just outside of Boston. Other than the accents, the biggest difference that I find is that they use Tobasco sauce instead of Texas Pete. I can even get grits in some places up there these days. I will be happy when they get livermush too.

The south is not the same south as it was during reconstruction. We consist of a huge percentage of people from other countries and states. If we are backwards, which seems to be an implication here, it would likely be the fault of the newcomers to the south since in Charlotte they make up most of the population . Most of the people that I have seen in the Boston are "meat and potatoe" people and not a bit more adventurous than people here or any other southern place that I have lived.

Before moving here from Florida, one of the things I enjoyed doing was shopping at Harris Teeter rather than Publix. Overall, Harris Teeter is my favorite general grocer and is better than most grocers in that category. The best rated grocers in the eastern U.S. are Wegman's, Publix, and Harris Teeter.

As for me, I prefer to be considered southern and not "mid Atlantic". I am not sure what a DC or Northern Virginia culture is. Can you tell what that means?

Edited December 7, 2010 by caterpillar2

[bigboxstore]

After a two year hiatus, The Grand Asia Market is back on track for Stallings. I will be glad to see something in the old Winn-Dixie space that's been vacant almost 5 years. I think the success of Enzo's Italian Market in the same shopping center may have brought this project back to life.

The store is going to open by year end. I was by there tonight, it looks much nicer than the Winn-Dixie that once occupied that location.

www.grandasiamarket.com

[Guest]

DigitalSky and I have been pondering this for a good while now, predicting the expansion of the harris teeter in Myers Park, and sure enough HT on Providence and Queens is slated to become two stories as we had speculated. I am very envious of charlotte, this grocery store will now be 45k sq. feet up from 32k. The best I can get in brooklyn is like 8k sq feet, sighhhh

Here are renderings.

Edited February 17, 2011 by Guest

[southslider]

I'm all for a 2-story Teeter at Q2P2. For one, it will set a nice precedent for re-building Store #1 (or HT #201) at Plaza-Central.

[49er]

Apparently its going to be an icky design. Big parking lot with a very deep building setback at the rear of the site. Essentially, it sounds like this prime corner of Charlotte will be reduced to a parking lot

[southslider]

^Icky? Granted, this site likely won't have structured parking similar to Uptown's Fifth & Poplar. But neither will this site have abundant surface parking like the SouthPark Taj-Ma-Teet. Overall, this store's design still appears to be moving towards urban, if a 2-story store with access from street sidewalks.

Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if Eastover/Myers Park residents would actually prefer a well-landscaped parking lot hidden largely by a pretty building, instead of a visible parking deck of any height.

[49er]

Granted, I have yet to see the site plan, but according to the paper the building is to be located at the rear of the site with parking out front. Two stories doesn't equal good urban design on its on. At 42,000 sq ft, the store will require hundreds of parking spaces, all of which I presume will be in front of the building. One report I read stated that neighbors saw a design where the store sat more side by side with the parking lot similar to the Park Rd store near Selwyn. This would be a huge missed opportunity not to get the site plan right.

[CLTNative]

I am not a huge fan of the design, but it fits the fabric of the area. Being someone that used to call this HT home, I totally welcome the renovation. That intersection is famous throughout Charlotte. That said, parking in front is a HUGE mistake. It is hard enough getting through that intersection, now add a parking lot entry?? I can only hope the parking is behind the building, think how nice it would look from Q2P2 with a nice 2 story store facing the intersection.

Side note: Please be a model for the Plaza store! If any area could support an urban concept (with a small parking deck), PM is it!

[49er]

Ok, I'll eat crow for making such drastic assumptions. The site plan for the new HT is fantastic! They've done about as good a job as could be expected given the tough site. See the rezoning petition here:

My link

[nonillogical]

Ok, I'll eat crow for making such drastic assumptions. The site plan for the new HT is fantastic! They've done about as good a job as could be expected given the tough site. See the rezoning petition here:

My link

So it IS still built on the same land it is now, next to the intersection? where did we get the idea that it would be pushed back behind parking earlier in the thread?

I agree, this looks like a great improvement of the site. Love the bit of green space at the back.

[Guest]

So it IS still built on the same land it is now, next to the intersection? where did we get the idea that it would be pushed back behind parking earlier in the thread?

I agree, this looks like a great improvement of the site. Love the bit of green space at the back.

we got the idea because the observer/bizjournal (whichever) said that it would be set against the streets behind

[DigitalSky]

Bad move on Food Lion's part... Converting all NC and SC BLOOM stores to Food Lion... keeping the Bloom brand in VA/DC/MD though...

[tozmervo]

Uhg, that is very disappointing. I've grown really fond of the Bloom on Park Rd. I hope this is just more of a signage change than anything.

[NCMike1981]

We were supposed to get a Bloom in Raleigh, they had the "Bloom coming soon" sign up and everything then last minute they decided to open it as a Food Lion (been open maybe 3-6 months now). It's quite a Harris Teeterlike Food Lion, especially inside. I always thought it was odd that they decided against expanding Bloom into the Triangle last minute, had figured maybe because Food Lion is strong enough in the Triangle without it (there doesn't seem to be any 1 dominate grocer in the Triangle like in Charlotte), but looks like maybe they already had Bloom withdrawal from NC in the works...

Edited March 15, 2011 by NCMike1981

[HopHead]

I'm pretty surprised by this move by Food Lion. I don't think it's a great PR move at all. Though, maybe they are finding some way to clear up the FL brand.

[Sabaidee]

Bad move on Food Lion's part... Converting all NC and SC BLOOM stores to Food Lion... keeping the Bloom brand in VA/DC/MD though...

I think it's a bad move too. The DMV area is very competitive, Harris Teeter may be a tier one (if there's such a grouping) grocery chain here in Charlotte, but speaking to friends who have lived in Charlotte and the Triad and have moved to DC for school. HT is just "another" grocery store. If HT having trouble being competitive in DMV, I don't think Food Lion can do any better with Blooms.

[HopHead]

For those that care to know (or didn't hear), yesterday was the official groundbreaking of Whole Foods in Southpark. Can't wait for this area to become more of a traffic nightmare.

Edited April 12, 2011 by dbull75

[Guest]

For those that care to know (or didn't hear), yesterday was the official groundbreaking of Whole Foods in Southpark. Can't wait for this area to become more of a traffic nightmare.

With Target and Whole Foods coming, plus three mixed use mid rise developments. ugh

[kickazzz2000]

With Target and Whole Foods coming, plus three mixed use mid rise developments. ugh

Publix coming?

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2011/04/08/Publix-lines-up-second-site-in-region.html

The article states that Publix second Charlotte area store will be in Indian Land. Where is the first?

[caterpillar2]

Publix coming?

http://www.bizjourna...-in-region.html

The article states that Publix second Charlotte area store will be in Indian Land. Where is the first?

Having lived in Florida for many years, I don't get excited about Publix unless it is one of their 'A' stores. The others are just status quo. However, I am excited about getting Whole Foods. I am amazed that we don't already have one. When is it coming and where will it be located?

[southslider]

^^Tega Cay is the first.

[NCMike1981]

Looks like Publix is a bit nervous about crossing state lines into NC. Charlotte is so saturated w/ Harris Teeters it may be a bit of a hostile marketplace for them to try to gain entry into the state, compared to the other metros in the state. I suppose geographically Charlotte would be the natural NC expansion if not for the H.T. issue.

Too bad Wilmington is often overlooked. They are close to the SC border and so isolated from everything else I could see Publix making a go there. Maybe near the wealthy coastal areas of town...

Edited April 24, 2011 by NCMike1981