Photos by Harris Teeter

We may be teetering on heresy with long-time Publix fans (including us, by the way), but the addition of Harris Teeter to the Beaufort food shopping scene is a game changer. Their new Beaufort store has certainly been the talk of the town since opening late-June to packed parking lots and lots of special offerings and events, so we decided to do some digging around to deliver a Lowcountry DISH about the new kid on the bustling block.

This “kid” is actually a beloved grocery retailer with quite the “Carolinas” history. Based in Matthews, North Carolina just east of Charlotte proper, Harris Teeter’s roots run deep in the Queen City and beyond.

In 1936, W.T. Harris borrowed $1,500 to open the first Harris Food Store in Charlotte. The store was founded on three principles:

high-quality products; clean stores; and superior customer service. Harris was considered a pioneer of the grocery industry and offered the first supermarket that featured air-conditioning and stayed open until 9 p.m. on Friday nights. Just a few years later, in 1939, Willis L. Teeter and his brother, Paul, opened their first Teeter’s Food Mart in Mooresville, North Carolina.

On February 1, 1960, Harris Super Markets and Teeter’s Food Marts merged to form Harris Teeter Super Markets, Inc., with 15 stores in operation. Today, with more than 250 stores, 70 fuel centers and 36,000-plus associates, we’ve found that Harris Teeter provides a great shopping experience to millions of customers like us annually.

Harris Teeter strives to provide the best shopping experience to its customers at a great value, while also providing high-quality and fresh ingredients, which is why the company is proud to say it’s, “Your neighborhood market.”

With construction that began back in early-2023, the new Lady’s Island store features almost 60,000 sprawling square feet and has 200-plus smiling associates. On opening day, Danna Robinson, Harris Teeter’s director of corporate affairs, said, “Harris Teeter’s new location is an opportunity for us to enrich more lives through exceptional customer service and fresh, high-quality products, and that’s what we’re most passionate about.”

But Harris Teeter’s commitment to excellence doesn’t just live in the four walls of its stores, in that we’ve learned they are dedicated to supporting and serving the communities where they operate, including Beaufort. Each year, Harris Teeter donates millions of dollars through various campaigns, including the company’s popular Round Up campaign, to dozens of non-profits with local chapters, so the donation remains in your community. Along with monetary donations, Harris Teeter is close partners with various local food banks, where they donate millions of pounds of food each year to help support families in need, which demonstrates the company’s purpose to: “Enrich Lives: One Meal, One Family, One Associate and One Community at a time.’

Well, we’re certainly passionate about fresh food and great customer service, so our lives have definitely been enriched since Harris Teeter opened. Opening day included their signature “Taste of Teeter” sampling event, with complimentary food and beverage samples, live music, and more. During the first months, the company featured or is featuring 1,000 fuel points for transferring a pharmacy prescription (through the end of September and equal to a $1.00 off per gallon of gas), fuel specials and fuel points bonuses, and more — including “The World’s Largest Boiled Peanut” by way of South Carolina’s Luray Peanut Co. (which Lynn couldn’t resist).

Our new Harris Teeter goes beyond many traditional grocery store offerings, including: store-made pizza, subs, and sushi; an Asian & American hot foods bar; a full-service Starbucks (already quite popular); and a bustling craft wine and beer bar, where there’s also café-like seating. Additionally, there’s drive-through pick-up service for online grocery orders; a pharmacy onsite; and much more.

As one of the nation’s earliest loyalty programs and cards, we’re big fans of the  Harris Teeter VIC (Very Important Customer) program. It not only ensures savings in-store, but also at fuel centers (we’ve already saved a buck a gallon). There’s also HT Plus (two levels and related pricing, with a 30-day trial currently being offered), which includes special savings opportunities, extra fuel points, free delivery through Instacart, and more.

Thus far, after many, many visits — and after running into or talking to lots of friends and DISH devotees, including our esteemed Lowcountry Weekly publisher, Jeff Evans, who has been known to, in his words, “Walk around in hushed awe and reverence…” — we definitely have our favorite Harris Teeter offerings. These include: the wine and beer bar and café seating (where we’ve spied many folks making a meal out of their Harris Teeter visit); the produce (including lots of bargains we hope they’ll continue offering); the fresh sushi; the Deli; the Hot Bar; the crispy roasted chicken (yum!); the Bakery; the store-made pizza (trust us); Murray’s Cheese (don’t get us started); the large seafood and meat departments; and so much more.

Yep — astute readers may have noticed that this is pretty much the entire left-hand side of the sprawling store when you enter. And, did we mention the Pharmacy rewards for switching prescriptions and the fuel points and specials at the gas station?

In summary, we spread our food (and beverage) shopping dollars far and wide, depending on what’s in-season, pricing, where we’re already going, and more. But, yes, it’s quite possible Harris Teeter may become our “main” groceries shopping destination.

However, along with our frequent forays to our new Harris Teeter, we will most definitely still be heading to

Lynn Seldon with the ‘World’s Largest Boiled Peanut.’ Seldon Ink

both Publix locations (we love riding our bikes to the new-ish location just off the Spanish Moss Trail); the occasional Food Lion stop; Olde Timey Meats; the beloved Port Royal Farmers Market; all of the local fresh seafood hotspots; Bill’s Liquors & Fine Wines,  Frank’s Spirits & Wine (two locations), Tacarón, and more for wine and other adult beverages; the occasional Kroger stop in Bluffton; and frequent foodie stops on road trips at Aldi, Lidl, Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Atlanta’s Buford Farmers Market (ask us about it!); and more. We wouldn’t want to be accused of teetering on grocery shopping heresy, would we?

 

Harris Teeter

163 Sea Island Parkway

Beaufort, SC 29907

(843) 846-8326

Open 6am-11pm Daily

Beaufort-based travel journalists Lynn and Cele Seldon (www.seldonink.com) often cover culinary travel around the world and Lowcountry Weekly lured them to write a monthly feature covering the local food scene. This includes articles about restaurants, chefs, food-focused stores, farms, farmers, farmers markets, and more. The Seldons are currently researching and writing 100 Things to Do in the South Carolina Lowcountry Before You Die (Reedy Press). They welcome suggestions for topics for their DISH column and their upcoming book.