Moorefield Station Harris Teeter

The new Harris Teeter at Moorefield Station is opening tomorrow. In the words of K.C. & The Sunshine Band, please don't go.

Harris Teeter now has 4 locations in a 3 mile radius, and throw in Giant and Safeway, and needless to say, this area is oversaturated with grocery stores. Harris Teeter, like many other developers and retailers, made decisions about locations long ago, betting that the housing boom would continue. And they are paying for their bets. I would be surprised if all 4 Harris Teeter's survive, and if you are a Broadlands resident, you don't want the Broadlands Marketplace location to miss the cut. The impact on the other businesses in the center, many of them local small business owners, could be devastating. And home values could potentially suffer as well.

I'm not trying to be an alarmist, no, I don't have any inside information, and yes, as a Van Metre employee I have a vested interest in the center. But I'm also a Broadlands resident who shops at Harris Teeter. So I hope those of you that are tempted to change your shopping patterns will reconsider. If there is anything that you don't like about the Broadlands Harris Teeter, I encourage you to speak to the store manager or send an email to corporate.

Thanks for your consideration,
Ty Hausch

 

I don't think you are being an alarmist. HT strategy is to saturate, get competition to slowly bleed and then close, after winnng the local market HT can close the "extra" locations. Can the BoS pass a moratorium on stip malls and grocery stores? I'm serious; there are too many to survive and the local community pays the price when they go vacant. Do you think the vacant strip mall where Food Lion/Bloom closed in Belmont Green (Station?) is helping sell houses there?

 

I agree that vacant grocery stores hurt property values, but I'm curious about how you know HT's strategy. Is there another area where they've done what you suggest they might do? - open a bunch of stores near each other then shut most of them down? I'd be curious to look at what's happened in those areas.

As for Bloom/Food Lion, I never went to that location, but I thought that chain/brand generally focused on lower prices instead of higher quality - something which I don't think meshes well with the stereotypical Ashburn mentality, particularly not Belmont Country Club. Perhaps they just made a bad decision thinking their brand would do well in that location?

 

I'm not so sure that HT's strategy is to eventually close any of their stores. If I were to guess, I would bet that they're looking at this as a long-term investment. Many of these stores might only break even at best. But if they can manage to stick around for 5-6 years without losing too much money, they'll be well-positioned when Metro arrives and all of the communities around here continue to build out. The last I had heard, Brambleton is only about 1/3 built-out so far. I'm sure there's going to be a good deal more residential going up around Moorefield Station (and likely high density like the apartments currently there) and more building in Loudoun Valley. Goose Creek Village still has a long way to go and will probably double or triple their population before all is said and done. The Broadlands Marketplace location would probably be helped by the George Mason campus eventually going in, and also the new Van Metro townhomes being built just a short distance away on Waxpool.

 

Also,

Foodlion shut down many nationwide stores along with ours

Secondly remember ht is able to gain efficiencies by minimizing delivery trucks given the proximity of the stores......also what makes you think they can not make money....remember it doesn't take many employees to run the store,I bet you that some of the management /hr is shared across the local stores, and the produce sections are small......you might find they make money without a ton of volume.... I think they do make money and their saturation model works well.

 

I don't have insider knowledge that HT will close stores, I said "can" close, as in they could close an under-performing store once the saturation model serves its purpose.

Doesn't matter why the grocery store closes down (bad decision by food lion, competition, etc.) ... point is the possible glut of empty strip malls. Developers create "town center" strip malls with shaky prospects for long term survival.

What say y'all: will Safeway survive? 2 years out? 5 years out?

 

We were just talking about that at home. Safeway could be the big loser here. I really hope it stays because it is convenient but so are Giant and HT. Maybe Broadlands Station and some of the other new developments can help drive some new customers for them.

If I was betting I would say 2-3 years.

#FirstWorldProblems

 

I've lived in Broadlands six years, right by the Safeway, yet I've only gone to Safeway a handful of times. The quality, selection, and freshness I want just don't seem to be there.

I go to Wegman's weekly. I shop at to Giant (by Chipotle), Whole Foods (in Reston), My Organic Market (MOMS) (in Herndon) and Trader Joe's (also in Herndon) once or twice a month EACH on average.

The only time I go to Harris Teeter is to buy Brianna's New American Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette, which is delicious but hard to find. This store just does not impress me, and the prices seem high.

 

A couple of years ago WTTG (Fox 5) ran a story on local grocery stores and the pricing comps. The reporter shopped 25+ grocery items, all of the same brand and size from several retailers: Giant, Safeway, Wegmans and Harris Teeter.

I seem to recall Harris Teeter was substantially more expensive (8-30% more, depending on the item) than their competitors and it was Wegmans who had the cheapest prices.

IMHO: Wegmans has great quality and much lower prices - but it can be a pain getting in and out of both of their locations. The Safeway (in Broadlands) is absolutely disgusting. And we only use Giant for sodas, water etc. HT we try to avoid because it is so much more expensive.

That said, I found that the local Asian markets actually carry higher quality produce, a wider selection and their prices are cheap, dirt cheap. We end up supplementing our monthly Wegman's trips with Grand/Global Mart.

 

I feel that Wegmans has the lowest prices, especially if you buy their store brand items. Harris Teeter is my secondary store because they run good specials on meats and frequently have "Buy 2 Get 3 Free" promotions. Most of the time the sale items at HT are pretty good deals, but occasionally the discount isn't much so, like any other place, you have to pay attention to the details. But Buy 2 get 3 free? That's pretty good.

Still, HT generally has higher regular prices so I mostly get the items that are on sale, which works out well for me.

 

When HT originially opened in Broadlands, I thought the very same thing about their prices being high. Hubby and I would argue over price vs. convenience. However, over the past year or two, I've noticed HT's Buy-One-Get-One-Free sales offered the kinds of products our familiy purchases on a weekly basis. So much that I figured HT must be paying attention and/or conducting consumer studies. Mott's Apple Juice, Tropicana Orange Juice, gallons of milk, boxes of popular kids' cereal, Ziploc gallon-size bags - all a super deal when I can get a second one for free . So we shop for the Bogo items at HT, and then buy anything not on sale at Giant, since prices are consistently lower.

I love the selection and prices Wegman's offers, but often times I find it's exhausting and stressful for weekly groceries. Safeway has a lovely floral department and carries Guitard chocolate for baking. The in-store Starbuck's is convenient. Not much else to be excited about, except for the occasional deal on gas.

Instead of yet another Harris Teeter, why can't Ashburn have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's? Don't you think they'd make a killing?

 

If Safeway would open up more than one-two lanes at a time I might go there more. Too many times I've sat in line with a couple items at an odd hour and have waited for forever.

 

We do all our shopping at Wegmans but do the quick runs for last minute items to HT. The few items I've price-compared are 30-50% higher at HT. Now...... if you have time to coupon shop at HT and only coupon shop, you can get GREAT deals. We don't have that kinda time.

 

Don't know about price, but the best part of Harris Teeter is online express service. I don't mind paying some $5 to do my shopping and the 100% money back garranty is worth it.

 

You know what, I kind of agree with you on this HT perk.

When I was recovering from surgery (and had a you baby) it was very easy to shop on line, a few hours later hop in the car, push the button and poof...my groceries were loaded into my car. Saved me time and the hassle.

We used Giant's Pea Pod & Safeways service once and I wasn't happy with the substitutions or their selection of produce.

 

We are almost the same except we use Giant not HT. Love wegmans deli meat and cheese, produce and fresh bar. Only complaint about Wegmans is that they don't carry certain items that we like and don't substitute- Northern Toilet Paper, Chocolate Chip pop tarts, Mueller corner yogurts in different flavors, jugs of Odwalla Mango Tango, and other kid's snacks that The Boy prefers. Giant has them all.

I take the experience into consideration over price. I would pay an additional few bucks every time not to deal with the chaos of a costco or walmart (though The Man does a costco run twice a year which is plenty for us), the uncertainty of freshness and qualilty at safeway. i don't hate HT, but seeing them EVERYWHERE annoys me and I choose them second to last. safeway is dead last.

I also decided years ago not to make major grocery shopping something i have to rush through, so i am not bothered at all by waiting in line. i just assume i will spend about 20 minutes in line and play words with friends while i wait. excellent stress relief.

safeway is awful for picking up a few items because you wait as if you WERE doing a major trip, and that IS annoying.

if i'm just grabbing a few items, self check out at giant and wegmans are both wonderful.