Harris Teeter Announces Merger with Kroger Stores

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Calling all you Harris Teeter & Kroger shoppers! Harris Teeter recently announced that they’ve decided to merge with Kroger stores for growth and other opportunities. Check out the email Hip2Save readers Susan & Carol recently emailed me:

[h2s_box]

Dear Harris Teeter Customer,

Harris Teeter announced that it is merging with Kroger. While a contract has been signed, the merger will not be complete for a few months. We announced in January that we were going through a process of looking at strategic options; this announcement completes that process.

While details are still being finalized, we can tell you our name will remain Harris Teeter; our own brands will continue to reflect our name; Boar’s Head Brands will be in our Deli and the same high-quality Angus Beef will be sold in our meat departments. We do not anticipate any Associate changes with this merger, so rest assured you should find your favorite meat cutter, cake decorator or cashier at your Harris Teeter. We will continue to be committed to delivering excellent customer service and outstanding quality. You will continue to find fast check-out lanes and friendly Associates when you visit your Harris Teeter store.

Kroger is the second largest food retailer in the US with sales approaching $100 billion. By joining them, we will become even more efficient in our ability to deliver outstanding value to our customers. In addition, they will provide growth opportunities for our company and our associates.

We appreciate your business and support over the years. Your loyalty is valued more than you will ever know. Rest assured it is the desire of both Kroger and Harris Teeter to only make Harris Teeter better through this merger for many years to come. [/h2s_box]

What are your thoughts about this merger?! Do you think this will change prices at Harris Teeter or Kroger stores?

(Thanks, Susan & Carol!)

Join The Discussion

Comments 21

  1. v

    I have concerns. First, Kroger stopped doubling coupons in my area. Now the merger thing going on. If the policy changes to no longer offer doubling of coupons, it will be a major game changer in my area. I have Farm Fresh Super Markets in my area and they double up to $1 on every day except Wednesday. On Wednesday, they double $1 coupons. When they feel the need to compete with the Harris Teeter super doubles promo, they would do as such for 3 day stretches in some weeks and occasionally allow a week at a time of the same super double opportunity. Farm Fresh has also done the doubling of coupons up to $3 face value (for a max of $6 off per coupon). If they no longer feel they need to compete with the doubling strategy of Harris Teeter, then they may decide to no longer double $1 coupons….maybe even not double coupons less than $1 either.

    It’s a nail biter.

    • v

      “I have Farm Fresh Super Markets in my area and they double up to $1 on every day”…
      I meant, they double coupons with a face value of 99 cents or less everyday day of the week except on Wednesdays($1.98 max off of a coupon)

  2. Macey

    I feel good about it! I just moved away from Kroger, but have a Harris Teeter. I would guess prices at HT would go down a bit…not sure on the doubling of coupons.

  3. Doug Smith

    I have concerns if they do away with double coupons at both stores.

  4. Brittany

    I am waiting to hear about the coupons too!

  5. Suzan Czoschke

    Harris Teeter = great environment, fantastic employees, awesome sale pricing with coupons.
    Kroger = dirty stores, “meh” employees, no doubling coupons
    Me = not a happy camper with the merger.

    • Kathy

      My krogers have very clean stores and nice employees.

      • DianeNC

        Although having a clean store and/or nice employees is nice, it’s the potential savings that ultimately draws me to a store (or not). With no double coupon policy offered, or allowing customers to use the stores electronic coupons with manufacturer coupons, there’s no reason for me to shop there if other stores are still offering that.

        Again, it will be a very sad day for consumers in this area if Kroger does, in fact, choose to change Harris Teeter’s popular coupon policy.

        • cindy2705

          The only two things I like about Kroger are A) open all the time B) they tend to be in all neighborhoods. I don’t like how the employees are, I don’t like how their store is set up (and rarely cleaned), I don’t like their coupon policy, and I don’t like how the managers do little to help you if there is a problem. Harris Teeter I like the employees, I like their coupon policy, I like that the managers bend over backwards for you. Harris Teeter in my area plays up to richer neighborhoods, so they are all on one side of town, and I have to drive a ways to go there. I have saved MORE money at Harris Teeter in a year than I have at Kroger in 4 years. All things are destined to change, and only time will tell.

    • Chris

      This has always been my experience as well. Though I wouldn’t go so far as saying their stores are dirty…just older.

  6. rachel

    I’m not happy. HT has double coupons every day, with special weeks of double coupons up to $2. They also run regular buy one get one free sales and occasional B2G3 free sales. No such luck at Kroger.

  7. DianeNC

    I’m in NC, and we are very upset about this news. Since Kroger stopped doubling their coupons (and they used to only double them up to $0.50), Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods are pretty much the only ones left in our area that double coupons up to $0.99 – Harris Teeter also allows customers to “stack” manufacturer coupons with their electronic ones (which Kroger never did).

    Harris Teeter stores are cleaner with more fresh produce, etc., but more than anything else, they’re known for their excellent customer service – something I’ve yet to experience in the ONE Kroger store in my area (the other two closed down over the years.)

    Lastly, when Kroger stopped doubling coupons recently, they stated they were going to just lower their prices instead – not. I don’t shop there often, but when I do, I notice many of their prices are even higher than Harris Teeters. (At least with Harris Teeter, we’ve been able to offset their high prices through their great sales and coupon policies to the point where we’re able to regularly get items for free or close to it.)

  8. Melissa

    The Kroger (Smiths) stores in my state have rarely offered double coupons. Nor have any other stores in my area, so I never have had the expectation that a store provide double coupons before I shopped there. While stores are compensated for the use of coupons the stores are not reimbursed for the double coupon. The profit percentage is actually quite small for grocery stores. A lot of customers using a lot of coupons can represent an overall loss rather than a profit for these stores.

  9. brandice

    Atlanta has some of the best Kroger’s….clean friendly employees and fresh meats and produce

  10. Jamie

    I live in UT. We don’t have a HT store in my area, I don’t know if this will effect our state much.

  11. Erin

    Kiss Super Doubles good-bye! Kroger claims claims customers really weren’t taking advantage of doubles at Kroger, which is why they eliminated double coupons and went with “lower prices.” There’s no way they will continue double or triple coupon events at HT for very long.

  12. Maegan

    NOT HAPPY…… HT bought out the Lowes Foods that were around the Charlotte area, and now Kroger bought out HT. So, looks like no more double coupons in this area anymore
    >:(
    Lots of folks complain about HT prices, but I take advantage of the everyday up to $.99 double coupons, the super double coupons, and the rare triple coupon days, along with eVic specials and online coupons. SO MAD!!! what a sell out. may as well have sold themselves to walmart…….

  13. Peabud

    In my area of NC, Kroger pulled out years ago because the market was too competitive. If they are re-entering our market area, something has changed, and probably not for the good of consumers. When Kroger announced they would stop doubling coupons in the Central Region, it was followed by their announcement that they had bought Harris Teeter (I guess they need to come up with creative ways to pay for the HT acquisition). If the double coupons were bringing in customers, why would a huge business like Kroger change unless they found a way to make more money, by promising more potential savings, but hoping that customers forget about the actual savings from doubling coupons?

    Funny that the announcement mentions January, because that is when I started to notice the subtle changes at Harris Teeter. No associate changes? The wonderful deli manager and assistant deli manager at our once favorite store were transferred around the end of January, and we lost some good deals we had been receiving. Fast check-out lanes? This past weekend, it took them over 15 minutes to ring up our groceries because the computer kept crashing. Friendly associates and excellent customer service? This past weekend, they refused to honor an e-vic special because “it wasn’t the 7 ounce size and the UPC code wasn’t on their list” even though the print-out of the e-vic special email clearly stated 4.1 – 8.94 oz. Then a bakery item rang up as something totally different, which meant it wouldn’t have taken off the $3 e-vic coupon. And to top it off, the cashier scanned the same item twice. Looks like it will now take 2 of us to shop at Harris Teeter if we continue to shop there – one to watch the prices & coupons and another to watch the items as they are scanning them. We never used to have this many problems.

    I hope that I am wrong, but I think we are slowly but surely losing the Harris Teeter that we loved.

  14. Heather L

    I’m out in Utah so I don’t have a HT or technically a Kroger, but we have Smith’s which is a Kroger company, I think they have great things to offer! They don’t double coupons, but they have really good Mega Event deals, 10/$10 sales and Smith’s has awesome .99 produce sales (like green grapes, mini watermelons, peaches, lettuce, celery, broccoli, honeydew, strawberries,and more!) , I think they are doing very well. Smith’s also uses their reward points towards gas up to $1/per gallon! I use coupons to save on groceries, and the rewards to save on gas all in one go 😀 Plus ours have good employees and fast checkouts!

  15. Heather L

    I also think the already great prices kinda cancel out the need/hassle of double coupons for everything, sometimes you can be completely happy buying something without a coupon *gasp!* lol and they have some pretty darn good manager special deals if you can catch them 🙂

  16. Lora

    I hope Kroger adopts HT coupon policy since my kroger doesn’t double anymore!

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