mediamongrel

Has anyone noticed the development off of Carowinds Blvd. heading east? If you go past the Bloom they have cleared out a massive amount of land. Looks like a great place for another supermarket to compete with the Bloom.

It doesn't have anything to do with it, but the person who posted before me had to bring it up...I just had to respond. Anyway, back to supermarket talk. I didn't think Harris Teeter was on the environmental bandwagon, especially considering how many acres of forest they have cut down for their 50+ stores in Mecklenburg County. Also, I'd venture to say a lot of their clientel drive eight cylinder SUVs...sort of contradictory for the person at Cotswold to put a sign up to tell people to fill up after 7. By the way it is currently 96 degrees at 6:50pm. So, I guess i can fill up in 10 minutes and I will see a drastic change tomorrow...

I know that this will probably be an unpopular opinion on here...but the thought of government goons telling me things like I should gas up after 7pm and that I should use LESS air conditioning when it is 100 degrees, totally defeats the purpose of living in the United States. I have my thermostat set at 71...and it feels even better to walk into when it is 100 outside. Next thing they'll be saying is dont flush your toilet except for once a day. Is it that odd of a concept that Charlotte is hot and dry in the summer??? I have been in this area for 10 years and every summer is like this.

11,000 people for grocery store? It's not like it's a new stadium or skyscraper, it's just a grocery store.

Forgot about that Earth Fare. Boy, how many grocers does Charlotte need? There must be at least 40-50 grocery stores if you include only the area south of Rt. 74 in Mecklenburg County. A fairly small area as far as square miles go, yet it is saturated with grocery stores. Someone had a map up at one time.

It might be stupid, but I guess it shows that some supermarkets just hand away items even if people dont buy them, in turn raising prices for everyone. Maybe he's trying to show that the homeless could go there and eat instead of begging. I really don't know the point, just heard about the experiment.

Has anybody heard about the guy from Raleigh (who I'll just refer to by his first name and last initial) who is undertaking a similar adventure as Morgan Spurlock in "Super Size Me"? The guy is Bennett L. and he is going to show that he can survive on samples and free food from a local supermarket chain for 7 days. He apparently is only going to drink water from the fountain unless there is a wine tasting that day. The food that is allowed are any deli or produce samples and any other sample setup. Obviously, he is doing this in the Raleigh area, so there is no need to mention the supermarket he is going to be doing this at. Let's just say there are 20 or so of the supermarkets in that area, so I guess he will be visiting mulitple stores every day. Good luck to him. I often wondered if this could be done, and I will keep a progress report on his success once I receive word when he is starting. I know it was supposed to be soon.

Like someone mentioned in another thread, I think the reason being is that they are planning to extend Byrum Rd. out west past Steele Creek. Construction has already begun, though there is a large yellow house still abandoned right around there if I am not mistaken. They have already built a new gas station right near where the Bloom is supposed to go. It's sad though because at one time this area looks like it was a great farming community. If i had land out that way I think I'd hold on to it. The area west of Steele Creek is great country though it will probably soon be overdeveloped. I am sure Bloom isn't the only grocer looking at the 485 corridor west of Hwy 160.

BLOOM TO BUILD STORE WHERE??? INTERSECTION OF DIXIE RIVER RD. & STEELE CREEK RD. Apparently, according to a sign there, this is where a new bloom will be built. Right now, there is nothing there but Byrum's general store. This must have been there over 50 years because Byrum Rd. is about 3 more miles north up Steele Creek Rd. Maybe at one time this was all Byrum's land?

HTs store at 521 and Ardrey Kell is breaking ground now. It's hard to see another HT there. I suppose the blueprint of the store will be similar if not exactly the same as the one down the road at Blakeney. Although I have heard this area is ALREADY to small for the amount of people. Especially the HT and McDonalds are the ones who are busiest. hope they design the 521/Ardrey Kell Plaza a little differently but I doubt they will.

I'm sorry...where is the Rosedale Bi-Lo again?

Wow, that is good news. Better variety and selection of stores in Rock Hill than anywhere else. In 2 years they will have an HT, Food Lion, Super Bi-LO, Aldi, Compare Foods, and Earthfare all in a mid sized city like Rock Hill. Talk about great competition. All they need now is a Bloom somewhere.

I think HT usually asks for your phone # first before scanning a "dummy" card. But they dont want to lose customers, so if you argue just a little they will usually give you the sale price. In talking to and interviewing mystery shoppers, I have found this to be the case.

I'll have to check on the exact numbers, but my guess (for the Charlotte area) is the Monroe store. However, in North Carolina the Shelby store and the Hendersonville store are fairly low volume. Keep in mind that I am not including the HT express store at Providence/Queens because for the size of that store in proportion to sales, it actually does a good amount of business.

East side HT business isn't that good these days. Though its killer in South Charlotte (Matthews, Ballantyne, South Park) Go figure. 25 years ago the east side HT was the busiest part like Eastland, Central Ave, and the old HT on Albemarle near the Blue Wave car wash which is now an Auto Zone or something.

This Harris Teeter store which I was referring to in October has now closed quietly as of April 3rd, which leaves this plaza in Mint Hill almost totally empty now.

Does anyone have information on the progress of the 2 Super Bi-Lo's that were in the process of being constructed? I know they were both within 25 miles of Charlotte (one in Matthews near Union County, and one in Rock Hill near the old mall)

Yes, funny you mention that. I often wonder, if all chain supermarkets (HT, Lowes, Food Lion, Bi-Lo) have these special cards you have to get, then why don't all four chains just dispense with them at the same time and give the deals to everybody. It really isn't helping the supermarket anyways because the cashier will believe any BS story you give them about forgetting or losing your card and will just scan their own for you. Supermarket shopping was so much easier back before cards. You'd go to the store, say, "Hey look, it's on sale" you'd buy it at the sale price, and that was the end of the story! (of course I suppose then you couldn't get a free cheap as* beach chair after spending over $600 in groceries)

Some specialty items are the same though. Take packaged luncheon meat, or what's the difference if you get a bag of potatoes from HT or Wal Mart...there still just bagged potatoes. Bagged salad from HT or Wal Mart are the same quality. Dairy produts are the same quality. I have seen out of date products on the shelf at HT and at Wal Mart. I think fresh produce and sliced/fresh meat are the two biggest things that people might go to a upper class supermarket to purchase. The breads that these supermarket chains pass off as fresh are a joke. Most of it is shipped in frozen, then baked at store level. How can they advertise that as fresh baked bread? For that you have to go to Nova's or somewhere like that.

Interesting stuff, it's funny no one ever thinks of gas to get from place to place. What money do you really save when you drive cross town as you noted.

Not being sarcastic, but who is saying that?

In investigating the point of oversaturation of grocery stores, someone needs to get the figures on whether Mecklenburg County sets a national if not a north american record for grocery stores in a certain county. In some places Food Lion has a lot of stores, but for being a city of 750,000-1,000,000 people, I have never seen a grocery store like Harris Teeter that has 45 (and counting) stores in one county (Mecklenburg), and is planning to build more. I remember there being an area up north near southern Mass. where there were about 10-15 Shaw's supermarkets in one city (with roughly the same population as Charlotte) and I thought that was a lot. What's with the obsession for oversaturation? At some point everyone will start getting pissed at HT, apparently like the people in Huntersville.

98.8 % of the national average is an interesting statistic. Even the low end grocery stores in the Charlotte market can be pricey. Bi-Lo is just as high as Lowes and HT on most items. Food Lion is cheaper on grocery items but about the same on produce, meat, and deli/bakery. The most reasonable grocery stores in the Charlotte market are probably the warehouses (however, you must be willing to spend about $200 in one trip) or Aldi's which has a great price on just about everything if you dont mind off brand items. What seems funny about the Charlotte grocery market is the total lack of local product from any of the chains. In the summer you see many corn, peach, strawberry, and other vegetable and fruit stands all over, yet most of the chain stores produce still comes from CA or somewhere out west. You think with the emphasis these companies place on "local" items and their store being a "Farmer's Market" that they would carry more local items. With all the colder weather product now arriving in NC stores, the public should plan to see prices on a lot of produce keep going up in the next few weeks. Last time I looked celery was nearing $3, and most apples are nearing $2 a pound. Also, has anyone noticed meats and salads are outrageous. Salmon is $10-15 a pound on sale, and bagged salads (premium varieties) are $3-4 a bag!!! You can go out to a restaurant and get a good grilled salmon and salad for under $20 at most restaurants, so the incentive to cook at home is defintiely slipping away. The days of it "being cheaper to cook at home" are definitely in trouble. I'd say Charlotte area grocers will just continue to raise prices if people continue to buy the groceries. Personally, I can't see buying luncheon meat for $8.99/lb. at Lowes or a red pepper for $2.99 at HT. These are seriously over the top!

Congrats on getting there quick, you are probably one of the lucky ones because from what I have heard the warehouse may not be able to keep up with the demand on the strawberries and water. The ice cream shouldn't be a problem. If you think about it, you can barely get three 15 packs of water in a shopping cart at the same time.

I suppose you would get the deals at the 24 hour HTs.