[3] On July 9, 2013, Harris Teeter Supermarkets announced that it was being acquired by The Kroger Company for $2.5 billion.

[10] The store had eight employees, primarily selling dry groceries because frozen foods and refrigeration did not become common until World War II.

[citation needed] Harris' store was the first in North Carolina to allow customers to select their own groceries off the shelves.

His son, Donald Thomas Harris, began working for the company at eight years old by sweeping floors.

As an adult, Donald suggested that Harris Teeter should carry more than just food products, and recommended the introduction of health and beauty aids, school supplies, bakeware, kitchen tools, and seasonal items (such as coolers in the summer).

The two men decided that working together would increase the financial strength of the two supermarkets, allow them to grow more rapidly, and decrease operating costs.

Those stores were mainly in working-class neighborhoods, while middle and upper-class areas retained Harris Teeter.

Hunter also provides dairy products to companies and organizations not associated with Harris Teeter, including convenience stores, schools, Lowes Foods private label ice creams, and the Wendy's Frosty.

Before this point, the company was a grocer in the vein of Piggly Wiggly, with a mix of stores in urban and rural areas.

This trend continued with HT's 1988 purchase of Big Star Supermarkets, giving it a foothold in the Raleigh-Durham market.

Later expansions led the company to Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.

The VIC program advertised "giveaways" such as turkeys for Thanksgiving, beach apparel for the summer, and gift cards to Harris Teeter stores.

His first initial expansions moved Harris Teeter into Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; and Jacksonville, Florida, which happened through the end of the 1990s.

However, these plans were only partially fulfilled and poorly executed, leading the chain to pull out of the Atlanta market altogether in 2001.

Harris Teeter originally operated three stores in the greater Jacksonville area when the company expanded into that market in the late 1990s.

However, only one store remains open serving Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach, and thus making it Harris Teeter's only Florida location, albeit just south of the Georgia border.

[13] Starting in the 2000s, Harris Teeter attempted to differentiate itself from its competitors by providing exceptional customer service and newly "branded" departments.

The Central Region, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, encompasses stores from Greensboro/High Point to Wilmington and Albemarle.

As of August 2007[update], Harris Teeter had over 18,000 employees, and is the second largest supermarket chain in North Carolina, with Food Lion being number one.

By the mid to late 2000s, expansion to the Outer Banks of North Carolina had begun with stores in Corolla (May 2006), Kill Devil Hills (July 2006), and Morehead City (February 2009).

Stores such as the original Harris Super Market, located near uptown Charlotte, remain grandfathered into the current system.

With Harris Teeter's further expansion into the upscale markets, many of their older stores in lower income neighborhoods or small towns were being shut down as a result.

[citation needed] The chain's expansion into Baltimore's Locust Point neighborhood was originally set for 2010, but was delayed due to "construction and financial problems".

[14] As of April 2014, Harris Teeter had eleven stores in Maryland, including the Locust Point location.

[15] After selling its only other holding, American and Efird, Inc., Ruddick changed its name to Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Inc. in 2012.

In turn, Lowes Foods would take the six Harris Teeter locations that would close and be compensated $26.5 million.

In turn, Lowes Foods planned to shift to the western part of North Carolina, and away from Charlotte.

[17] However, industry analysts speculate that these changes are happening due to the impending expansion of Publix into the Charlotte market.