Harris Teeter ditches manned checkouts at Uptown Charlotte store.

[1111072036]

http://www.fox46charlotte.com/news/loca ... e-location

Apparently this is a small store (16,000 square feet) with a lot of small transactions.

Interestingly, no one is getting laid off due to this move.

[storewanderer]

This is a very small store with multiple entrances. It is very oddly laid out (to get maximum space). I am a little surprised to see them go 100% self checkout, but in this type of location I could see it working. For a store at the level of Harris Teeter, I am a little surprised they would do this. It seems like poor service for a higher end operation like a Harris Teeter in the Carolinas to only offer self checkout. But I think more and more consumers are becoming accepting of self checkout as time goes on, and it is getting to the point where not having it is seen as more of a service issue than forcing people to use it.

[buckguy]

Harris-Teeter is kind of joke as a high end operator and I suspect Kroger in their current efforts to homogenized their operations will make this even more so. Publix, which is no Whole Foods, plays the part better.

[storewanderer]

Harris-Teeter is kind of joke as a high end operator and I suspect Kroger in their current efforts to homogenized their operations will make this even more so. Publix, which is no Whole Foods, plays the part better.

Harris Teeter is quite excellent in the Carolinas. If you get to one of their larger stores they are great, and very well executed. Excellent quality fresh departments and prepared foods. I was very impressed.

My previous experiences in the more far flung territories with them were not great. They were pretty lousy in Nashville and I didn't think they were worth their prices in DC either.

I'm surprised Kroger has left them along this long. Given how Kroger has been destroying centralizing everything so much the past few years.

[1111072036]

Harris-Teeter is kind of joke as a high end operator and I suspect Kroger in their current efforts to homogenized their operations will make this even more so. Publix, which is no Whole Foods, plays the part better.

Harris Teeter is quite excellent in the Carolinas. If you get to one of their larger stores they are great, and very well executed. Excellent quality fresh departments and prepared foods. I was very impressed.

My previous experiences in the more far flung territories with them were not great. They were pretty lousy in Nashville and I didn't think they were worth their prices in DC either.

I'm surprised Kroger has left them along this long. Given how Kroger has been destroying centralizing everything so much the past few years.

I have to agree with storewanderer here.

In NC where Publix and Harris Teeter compete against each other, I would say that Publix has a slightly better reputation than Harris Teeter. Then again, Publix is relatively new and overhyped to hell well-hyped.

I would actually argue that Publix is behind the curve when it comes to having upscale amenities. Publix doesn’t have any in-store beer/wine bars (some Harris Teeters do, along with Growler Fill) or pizza bars. Most of the Publix stores here lack Starbucks or any in-store coffee shop (Starbucks Kiosks are pretty ubiquitous at Harris Teeter) and the salad bars at Publix are much smaller. Publix also doesn’t have anything close to Harris Teeter’s Special Event Station which is pretty popular and has decent quality meals.

I would actually argue that Lowe’s Foods is just as/more upscale than Publix in North Carolina (and I actually like/shop Publix more than I do Lowe’s Foods) despite my opinion that Publix will hurt Lowe’s due to the latter’s small size and relatively low store volumes.