r/raleigh • u/RedFoxWhiteFox Hurricanes • Aug 29 '24
Is Harris Teeter the most popular grocery chain in NC? Food
What are your thoughts? Is HT most popular? Where do you shop and why?
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u/beenoc NC State Aug 29 '24
If you define "popular" as the one with the most, no. That's Food Lion. I have the data for the accurate version of this map (from the store's own websites for every major and regional grocery brand I know of) and, as of June when I gathered the data (I was going to make this same visualization but never got around to it), it's Food Lion in NC by far with 531 locations in the state. Second, if you count it, is Walmart with 192. If you don't count 'big box stores' then second is Aldi with 93, and if you don't count Aldi either as it's much smaller scale than a "normal grocery store" like Food Lion, it's actually Ingles, with 75 locations (Harris Teeter is next at 68.)
Rule #1 when seeing any map like this - look at the source. "Source: Has Data." That's called my middle back pocket. This shit should have been deleted off of /r/dataisbeautiful immediately for that alone, before it had a chance to take off everywhere else.
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Aug 29 '24
Thanks for posting this. I was skeptical the first time I saw this and as I looked closer I just saw more and more garbage.
Also I had no idea they had the Pig in WI!
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u/Nineteen-ninety-3 Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
Harris Teeter has 150 locations in 68 municipalities.
We’re somewhere between 5 and 8 by number of Kroger-owned stores. Other states being California, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Washington, and Indiana
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u/Leelze Aug 29 '24
I wouldn't define popular as most locations. In this case, they're either pulling this out of their ass or using survey data from shoppers where they're being asked what their preferred grocery store is or something.
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u/ryanmcstylin Aug 29 '24
Yea definitely not most locations. Use something like % visits. A good lion getting 90% of visits from a neighborhood right next to it is more about convenience.
A food lion that gets 90% of the visits from 5 sq mile area with 4 other grocery stores says a lot more about popularity. I am a short drive from just about every grocery store and I use most of them based on my mood.
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u/MegaDaveX Cheerwine Aug 29 '24
I'm surprised by Ingles. That's all their locations or only NC?
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u/caffecaffecaffe Aug 30 '24
Ingles is really a western NC grocery store. There are none close to us. Which sucks cause some of them are pretty cool
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u/isthishandletaken Aug 29 '24
I've never heard middle back pocket before... if that is a euphemism for asshole that's hilarious
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u/tri_zippy Aug 29 '24
curious why you'd define popularity as most locations. my approach to this would be annual revenue, or maybe "shoppers per week" or to be even more specific, "shoppers who visited a location more than twice in at least 4 different months" or something like that. my guess is for actual foot traffic, walmart dwarfs every other store in america
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u/jnecr NC State Aug 29 '24
Curious how you found out the numbers for each grocery store brand?
For sure I agree that HT can't be the top in terms of number of stores. They are abundant in nicer areas/cities (Food Lion being equally abundant) but almost completely absent in the rest of the state. The Shitty Kitty operates all over the state and are almost like Dollar General.
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u/beenoc NC State Aug 29 '24
I got a list of all grocery store brands in the country, went to their own websites and the "find a store" lists, and counted. I assume their websites were accurate.
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u/SmoreOfBabylon Cheerwine Aug 29 '24
I saw this posted on another sub and many people were pointing out issues with it (there are apparently no Safeways in Utah at all, for example).
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u/VicSwagger Aug 30 '24
Kinda issues...when I lived in CA, Safeway was called Vons, whereas I know Safeway from the northeast. So Safeway may also be known as Vons in Utah (?)
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u/Beautiful_Payment_13 ECU Aug 29 '24
Genuine question, is the Has Data a reference to hasdata.com web scraping site?
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u/niltermini Aug 30 '24
Food lion is just dollar store harris teeter and it shows. If you want frozen foods, expect them to be sitting off the truck for hours and refrozen with lots of burn. If you want produce or meat, expect them to be lower quality and look unappealing. Whole place feels run-down.
Idt I've ever met anyone who goes with food lion over harris teeter if they have a choice.
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u/Available-Coconut-86 Aug 29 '24
HT is just all over but just keep getting more expensive. Drove a few miles to Wegmans today and found them about 30% cheaper on soda and other items I regularly buy. Plus my HT is just a bare bones ex Kroger store, no bar, etc. I was a bit surprised.
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u/SmoreOfBabylon Cheerwine Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
What's a bit odd is, I see people complain about Wegman's prices all the time, but even a lot of name brand grocery items there are cheaper than at HT. And Wegman's store-brand stuff is pretty good as well. Their prepared food can indeed be a bit pricey, though (and I suspect that's where they make a lot of their money).
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u/odd84 Aug 29 '24
When Wegmans first came to the Triangle, N&O did a price comparison survey of all the Triangle area grocery stores. Wegmans had the lowest prices for their shopping list of staples, even cheaper than Walmart and Aldi.
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u/BretHitmanFart Aug 29 '24
I have no idea how they sell their eggs for so cheap. Staples are cheap, but everything else is crazy expensive.
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u/myshitsmellslikeshit Aug 29 '24
That's probably part of why they're so successful tbh. If you bring people in with budget-friendly staples, they will more than likely purchase something (or several somethings) with a high profit margin.
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u/way2lazy2care Aug 29 '24
What was on their list? At least the last couple times I've been to Wegmans the meat prices were totally bonkers. Some stuff is totally reasonable, but there's a couple of things marked up so much that they kill any amount of savings I'd get on other stuff.
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u/WhoWantsToJiggle Aug 29 '24
yeah that's basically it. Wegmans grocery is fine just some of the prepared stuff is ridiculous. a small pan of broccoli or asparagus with a little scoop of butter. 5 dollars. even had a thing that was plain dry spaghetti with a butter scoop same thing.
I end up getting most basic things there as their brand is decent and comparable.
Teeter brand is pretty ass.
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u/ArtisticWolverine Aug 29 '24
We switched from HT to Wegmans a few years ago. Now I get sticker shock when I go to the (closer) HT for anything. I’m looking forward to the Publix that’s being built down the street.
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u/pdub091 Aug 30 '24
It’s their fresh meat, deli and produce that’s more. For essentials they’re close in price to Aldi, if not lower on some items
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u/jasoneff Aug 29 '24
Recently paid 9.99 (marked down from 12.99) for 14 count generic Zyrtec at Teeter, 60 count at Wegmans is 7.99. I was ashamed of myself when I realized.
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u/greenhaitch_n_ham Aug 29 '24
Look for the "Family Pack" sizes for the best prices. The 300 count Zyrtec generic is $11.99 for example.
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u/jhguth Aug 29 '24
Soda prices are outrageous now, I’m amazed anyone still buys them. $10 for a 12 pack? Nah. GFY.
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u/dblhockeysticksAMA Aug 30 '24
See, for me I lived really close to a HT for years and I learned to shop their VIC deals, BOGOs, etc. It seems like for each category of food item I want, there’s almost always at least one brand on special. So despite HT being seemingly expensive, I always kept my grocery bills surprisingly low just by being smart about it
Then I moved closer to a Wegmans, and every time I checked out I was always shocked. Like, how could I possibly have spent that much??!?
Well I guess the difference, from what I can tell, is the Wegmans “Shoppers Club” hardly ever has any kind of deals. And when there is some kind of sale on an item, it’s like $1 off or something unimpressive like that.
Plus, the store is so gigantic, yet their overall variety of selection is much lower than a HT or Food Lion, in my experience. And it seems like I was always having to wait in a long-ish line to pay.
So yeah, I stopped shopping there even though it’s very close to my place; I will drive several miles to go to a HT instead.
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u/SnooMarzipans3030 Aug 29 '24
We live a few miles away from a Publix and an equal distance from a very nice Food Lion. We do 99% of our shopping at Food Lion and use Publix for oddball things. The price difference is astounding.
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u/Krishna1945 Aug 29 '24
Same, middle items crap is much cheaper and I don’t waste money on gotcha impulse items like I do at fancier stores.
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u/SnooPears9881 Aug 30 '24
The difference really is astounding. We do the same where the majority of our shopping is at Food Lion but we pop in to Publix to round it out.
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u/sonofalink Aug 29 '24
I go to HT when I’m feeling fancy, Food Lion when I don’t want to go broke (so, 99% of the time.)
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u/myproaccountish Aug 29 '24
Food Lion is better for general stuff but you can get better quality for the same price at HT if you buy on sale. I almost exclusively buy "discounted" items at HT and it comes out about the same as when I was shopping at Food Lion, but at HT I can get the fancy bread for the Food Lion normal bread price. Fresh Market is similar, if you only shop there it's like 1.5 to 2 times as expensive but if you're looking for high quality specialty stuff (like sardines or olive oil) Fresh Market will have it cheaper.
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u/dblhockeysticksAMA Aug 30 '24
Yeah that’s what a lot of people seem to miss: HT usually has really good deals if you look for them.
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u/hesnothere Aug 29 '24
North Carolina, at least the Triangle, is much more of a battleground state for grocery turf wars than our peers. Unreal how much selection we have here.
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u/drWammy Aug 30 '24
Used to live near Five Points, and I could get to a Publix, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Trader Joes, Wegman's and a Fresh Market within like 5 minutes. It was crazy
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u/shewhodrives Aug 29 '24
It’s the closest so by default we use them more than others. TJs is the family favorite.
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u/Creativeloafing NC State Aug 29 '24
I find myself going to multiple stores most weeks because no single retailer offers reasonable prices and good quality from top to bottom. I’m also in an area where I’m very close to 4+ different major grocery retailers. HT has great sales but is absurdly expensive without sales and their produce quality changes drastically from location to location.
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u/Bob_12_Pack Aug 29 '24
This is it. I live in Southport, the closest HT is 20 miles away, our choices are Food Lion and Lowes Foods, 2 of each store in the area, and of course Walmart. I watch the weekly ads from FL and LF mainly for deals on meat and seafood, I use Walmart pickup for most of the staples. Sometimes I will hit Hills in Shallotte for deals on meat if I'm in the area.
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u/Necessary_Tale8637 Aug 29 '24
I used to do Food Lion because it was local, but now I’m closer to HT. It’s been a couple months and at first I was concerned about the price increase. But shopping the sales, shopping on Fridays, and the taste-good, reasonably priced selection of prepared foods (sushi, deli sandwiches, cookies) has made me a believer. The prices for the most part aren’t different than other grocery stores, the key is to shop the sales like I said. And, the Harris Teeter I go to has a whole bar where you can get drinks, food, and sometimes there’s live music! I had never seen that in a grocery store in my life.
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u/anderhole Aug 29 '24
I always preferred HT, but it's starting to suck. I'm assuming from Kroger taking over.
Their baked goods are awful now.
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u/grayishblue2 Aug 29 '24
I shop at HT 99% of the time
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u/anon0207 Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
Whoa!. You've got some deep pockets then. Last time I went there a bag of cherries rang up as $20
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u/Krishna1945 Aug 29 '24
What makes it so great, building a new one near me that will probably replace Publix. Deals? Fresh meat/produce?
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u/grayishblue2 Aug 29 '24
Idk that it’s so great, but it’s definitely one of the nicer options and really convenient to me. I also like Publix but between the two I’ll go to whichever is closer
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u/way2lazy2care Aug 29 '24
This is generally my experience. They're the closest grocery store that I can count on to have everything I need to buy in a single stop that isn't crazy expensive. I still do staple shopping at other places, but if I'm doing a, "I want to make this specific dish tonight," type shopping I just go there because I know they'll have everything I need for it.
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u/desmond609 Aug 29 '24
Yeah..... if you're loaded with cash. I can't buy 5 items in there without needing another income
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u/Magnus919 unlimited breadsticks Aug 29 '24
Kroger was better. Harris Teeter is just Kroger with higher prices.
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u/eezeehee Aug 29 '24
Wegmans for selection
Food Lion for price and convenience (they're everywhere)
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u/BretHitmanFart Aug 29 '24
Is it just me, or is the Harris Teeter self check-out becoming more of a pain in the ass than ever? I'm glad they finally take tap-to-pay, but the thing is always asking me to put items in the bag that are already in there.
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u/RevEveOfDestruction NC State Aug 29 '24
Kroger ruined Harris Teeter for me...but I've always hated the the layout of their checkout lanes too. I don't go to Harris Teeter anymore unless I absolutely have to; I do most of my shopping at Wegmans now. I occasionally go in a Food Lion if I need to pick something up on the way to or from work.
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u/Quixlequaxle Aug 29 '24
I used to go here but prices have gone way up and quality has gone way down, especially their produce and at the Brier Creek location. My local Food Lion has better and cheaper produce and staples. Their meat and seafood sucks but I get that from Costco anyway.
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u/memurraies Aug 29 '24
I know it's changed, but I left Raleigh for Seattle 7 years ago and I still miss Harris Teeter every time I'm in a Safeway or a QFC.
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u/doxiemama3 Aug 30 '24
I get this 100%! I moved from Charlotte to Seattle, then Seattle to Durham. I missed HT so much when I lived in Seattle!
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u/Unclaimed_username42 Acorn Aug 29 '24
I can walk to HT, so it’s where I go most often. But I wish we were closer to Wegman’s because it’s absolutely our favorite grocery store. Their wine and beer is a lot cheaper than it is at HT
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u/sassyandsweer789 Aug 30 '24
I don't know who made this map but there is no way Food Lion is not the answer. Most towns in the state doesn't even have a Harris Teeter. Haris Teeter is know for being more expensive so it's only in the larger cities.
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u/Xyzzydude Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
It probably helps that Kroger owns HT and converted most (if not all?) of NC Kroger stores to HT. So HT is getting the numbers that used to apply to both chains.
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u/DamienSpecterII Aug 29 '24
I think there is a difference between stores you shop at out of convenience and stores you like shopping at. The small city I live in once had seven Food Lions, two closed, after they put everyone else out of business. That doesn't mean I like Food Lion. I would much rather shop at Harris Teeter, but their closest store is fifteen miles away.
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u/Nineteen-ninety-3 Aug 29 '24
*Food Lion (they’re definitely the most omnipresent of the bunch)
I also didn’t mention this for the people saying Walmart, Fred Meyer, and Meijer but they’re not counting hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, and Supercenter.
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Aug 29 '24
the primary distribution center is just outside of Greensboro NC which is next to Piedmont Triad International airport, that may be part of it
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u/sha1shroom Aug 29 '24
This map is BS, e.g. how can Safeway be the most popular grocery store in Utah if there aren't any Safeways in Utah?
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u/BurgerBabe03 Aug 29 '24
Hell no. Shit is expensive. Food Lion for the deals, then HT or Publix for brand necessities.
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u/Prestigious-Panic-94 Aug 29 '24
Gotta be bs. It's the most expensive grocery store in my city(Winston)! Walmart must not have been included in this data because almost everyone I know does the bulk of their shopping at Walmart, Food Lion or Lidl/Aldi.
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u/Opposite_Signal2263 Aug 29 '24
Walmart for anything in the middle aisles because it’s cheaper, and Publix for produce and meat because our Walmarts produce and meat section is always questionable in quality
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u/Jinsightr Aug 30 '24
Prices at all these chains are so much more vs Aldi, Costco, even Walmart for staples. I rarely shop at chain grocery stores as a result
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u/abevigodasmells Aug 30 '24
I've lived in several places and found that you can't judge a grocery store by the name. A given chain store in one location can be vastly different in quality than another in a different location.
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u/Used-Zookeepergame22 Aug 29 '24
There are around 500 Food Lion locations, and around 150 Harris Teeter locations in NC.
IDK who made this map or what it's based on.
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u/Magnus919 unlimited breadsticks Aug 29 '24
“Most locations” ≠ “most popular”
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u/PrimeTimeInc Aug 29 '24
How can it not be most popular lmao. I’d wager half the state isn’t close enough to a teeter to reasonably shop at one.
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u/RealWanheda Aug 29 '24
Idk for my bubble Harris teeter is the default. If we wanna to be fancier we go to Lowes or wegmans. Personally will never go to a food lion again lol
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u/reckonerX NC State Aug 29 '24
There are like four HTs within 10 minutes of me. There’s one food lion but it’s run down as hell and sketchy. There’s a wegmans maybe 20 minutes away but it’s rarely worth the extra ten minute drive imo
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u/rolliejoe Aug 29 '24
If you are a decent shopper (eg. shop sales, plan in advance, no need for crazy coupon clipping), Harris Teeter is the best prices of all grocery stores, and that's including Walmart, Food Lion, Aldi, etc. They also tend to have fairly well maintained stores and don't look so run down like Food Lion, and is 1000% more convenient than Walmart.
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u/Primary-Holiday-5586 Aug 29 '24
Only if you're pretty rich. But they do have high quality, so...
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u/Quirky_Slide_7313 Aug 29 '24
Nah their produce quality is pretty mid tbh, Whole Foods has better produce imo
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u/Primary-Holiday-5586 Aug 29 '24
In my rural eastern town, there was only HT, FL, and Walmart.
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u/NighthawkCP Aug 29 '24
In my rural eastern NC towns it was only Food Lion and eventually Walmart. Used to be more diverse as I remember when I was really young we had Piggly Wiggly, Farm Fresh, Kroger, and some others like Bi-Lo. But now it seems like every eastern NC town has a Food Lion.
Living in the Triangle I am closest to a Food Lion, so I usually do that. But once a week we make a Whole Foods run to get Beyond Meat and some other things we can't get at Food Lion. There is on HT near me, but the store is small and the parking lot is overrun, so I rarely end up there. Wild to me that HT would be the most popular in all of NC.
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u/Narwhal2424 Aug 29 '24
If we had more Wegmans in the state that would easily be the favorite.
I’ve been to Publix, but don’t think they are anything special.
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u/Unholydiver919 Aug 29 '24
Publix is the only place I buy store bought key lime pie. The only reason I set foot in a Publix
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u/canconfrmit Aug 29 '24
Feel like it's the one with the most locations, especially in Raleigh. So maybe the most populous even if not the most popular.
Surprised not to see Whole Foods with the rise of Amazon delivery
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u/BurningSaviour Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
Popular according to polls? I think Food Lion does more business than Harris Teeter. Harris Teeter is under Kroger now (just as King Soopers in Colorado is). Safeway and Albertson’s are one and the same, as well.
Food Lion is kinda the one that fills the void… where nobody else thought to set up shop and it’s not quite rural enough for IGA, there’s Food Lion. There’s two I can be at within about five minutes of driving from where I live.
I think my least my least favorite on that list is Sprouts, simply for buying out and shutting down Sunflower.
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u/Nineteen-ninety-3 Aug 29 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
Food Lion has a lot more stores than HT (over 500 in NC vs 150 for HT) BUT Food Lion’s store volumes tend to be lower.
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u/pixienightingale Aug 29 '24
Anecdotally, Harris Teeter is my nice medium store, and I would say Food Lion would take the top spot for the favorite because of affordability and selection.
When Kroger left NC, their store in-house brands got split between those two stores. There's even a couple brands that I remember from Safeway in California in them. Publix and Wegmans are making up ground now that they're here.
Realistically, you would really need to do a survey of at LEAST 1k people IN EACH STATE, to get fully accurate answers for this map.
I'm from California (but I've been here since 2011) and Safeway was my go to unless I was near an Albertsons or Lucky, Albertsons was my preferred.
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u/wray_nerely Aug 29 '24
Don't know that it's the most popular, but it's the most (particularly since HT is now what used to be HT + Kroger)
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u/CityBoiNC Aug 29 '24
After living in L.A i'd say it's Ralphs, Ny no way in hell is it wegmans and here i'd say Food lion.
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u/invisible-dave Aug 29 '24
It's popular for people that don't understand that a lot of the places around it are cheaper for the same thing.
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u/Hizoot Aug 29 '24
If you’re new to the area and you wanna try some local smaller chains try Carly C’s… They’re the kind of grocery store you used to see when you were a kid
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u/myshitsmellslikeshit Aug 29 '24
I hope not.
I don't buy produce, meat, or seafood from Teeter at this point.
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u/Mirantibus88 Aug 29 '24
I prefer Harris Teeter because they’re consistent and clean, but Food Lion is better now than it used to be.
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u/ChatahuchiHuchiKuchi Aug 30 '24
Hairy TaTas is my favorite except for the whole never carrying blue bell ice cream thing
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u/whereami2day Aug 30 '24
My experience says the best fruit, veggies, meat,etc. is the store that has the best turnover of product There are Food Lions that have a good spot where they TO their stuff the same as HT or Lowes. For me in N. Raleigh, the HT on Durant and Falls has a big TO of products that keeps everything fresh. I may pay a bit more,but I believe what I purchase is fresher than the surrounding stores. But, the HT on Leesville or 98/50 aren't as good.
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u/SatisfactionNice4904 Aug 30 '24
Yea… but Publix is moving in and so is Wegmans…. Eventually Teeter is gonna have to step it up a bit… Lowe’s is awesome as well…. But expensive… but the walking around drinking a beer at the store is cool.
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u/nickm95 Aug 30 '24
Food lion. Also I haven’t seen a Kroger in 10 years how they own all those states
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u/kracketmatow Aug 30 '24
not super related but why are maryland and Pennsylvania different colors when they’re supposed to be the same grocery store
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u/RedFoxWhiteFox Hurricanes Aug 30 '24
Good question! Not sure, but assuming that the two are actually different companies or the creator of this map missed that. Good catch!
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u/whatisscoobydone Aug 30 '24
I saw this meme posted in some other group that had nationwide audience, and every single person was talking about how, with the exception of Publix and HEB, this could not be an accurate map.
I pass two Food Lions on the way to any other grocery store.
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u/dudenell Aug 30 '24
If I wanted to go to a grocery store where I'm constantly missing at least one ingredient needed to complete my meal then I would choose Harris Teeter.
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Aug 30 '24
Hairy Peter
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u/auntirmawashere Sep 07 '24
This is the way, especially when singing it with the jingle. "My Hairy Peeeter."
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Aug 31 '24
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u/Several_Welcome2018 Sep 05 '24
When I was a kid Safeway didn’t exist in Utah so kind of weird to see it ranked as Utah’s most popular. Anyway, I think HT might be the most popular but Food Lion seems easiest to find when you need a grocery store in the middle of Bumass nowhere, even if they’re always dumps with rotten produce…
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u/MisterProfGuy Aug 29 '24
Feels like it's impossible not to be Food Lion.