Harris Teeter

I stopped into your location on what appeared to be a frantic coupon day; it was utter chaos. I selected your location as I prefer to pay more for quality products and customer service. If it had not been for an amazing young lady named Tierney, I would have never come back… people were behaving like animals. Tierney maintained her composure and was glad to assist me despite the chaos around her. Thank you Tierney for giving me such great customer service experience. (The only reason for my high rating). Might I suggest that I expect to find coupon hoarders in lower chains. Please re-​evaluate your need for double coupon days. This only devalues your Company and leaves your customers feeling prone to being harmed by people who would not otherwise shop at your location.

I’ve been here for over 3 years and had no idea what Harris Teeter was. The store is very bright and clean. However, this a very expensive grocer. The only time I go is if I am using coupons. They offer up to 0.99 coupon doubles everyday and sometimes have good sales. It seems as though most of their employees are college students since it is right across from CNU. This is a good thing that they have a job, but when I’m in line I shouldn’t have to hear about what happen at this party, who likes who, who this person doesn’t like because of their skin color, where they are going to eat when they get off, and so on… Very immature and unprofessional employees. Not all, but some. I definitely do not look forward to going there because of that, but will go for a good sale.

I love Harris Teeter! Do you think I’d really give it a bad review?
Anyway, Harris Teeter is Harris Teeter. Same open 24/​7, hot bars, anitpasto bars, salads n’ soup bars, delis, florist, and lovely produce as the one in the Burg. However, this one does not have the breakfast buffet in the early mornings as the one in WBurg does. The parking here is also much smaller and the entry point can be disastrous at times. The crowd here tends to be younger since CNU is close by but overall the store is clean and still the same great selection with the exception of the Asian to-​go foods, which I noticed this HT still carries the tofu dishes and the one in Williamsburg hasn’t had them for the past several times I’ve visited. Also, the produce here especially during the Farmer’s Market season is not as nicely presented :/​
Either way, love Harris Teeter.

After moving to the area and never had shopped at a HT before we decided to try and make this our «go-​to». Quickly realized we were spending a lot more on groceries than we used to. Also felt bad because we would shop on a weekday evening and load up a cart. Then once we got to checkout there would only be maybe one or two lanes open. We would get up there and then all the other people who only had a hand basket would have to wait… I guess that is probably because those shopping at HT usually are just running in for a few odds and ends. Save those large trips for Kroger or the like. I also felt it was strange pulling the cart up right to the cashier for them to unload and scan. Seemed to take longer that way.

Along with Piggly Wiggly, Harris Teeter has one of the great names for a retail food company.
The store itself is a large format supermarket that feels like a warehouse, but has most of what you need for your household supplies — large green grocer area, good deli, and dairy/​frozen food zones that make an effort to offer variety. Seems my brother in law knows many of the people who work here by name. I don’t think that kind of familiarity happens farther north, at least I have never experienced it.
This HT is closest to home, and seems a satisfactory choice if Wegmann, Trader Joe, or Whole Foods are not available.
Besides, when you look at the sign out front and start to say the name, you suddenly find yourself singing ditties using everything that rhymes with, «Harris Teeter.»

The prices here are outrageous. They can get away with it because they are right across from CNU, and the students either don’t know or don’t care that they’re paying 150% what they should be. The only reason I go in here is that they have the best deli meat I can find in the area (Boar’s Head). That said, the deli service is SLLLOOOOOOWWWWWW. Bring a friend, send them to the deli, do all your shopping, and if you’re lucky you’ll be done at the same time.

I love Harris teeter however after this morning there customer service dropped quite a few points in my book. One of my coworkers had mentioned they had breakfast bar in the morning. So I came by here at 615 and the store was pretty empty. So I asked an employee who said it doesn’t start til 7. Sweet. I will come back later. Come back at 715 the bars are still empty so there 2 people in the deli working who clearly see me and make eye contact several times without saying anything. So after about 5 minutes of standing there another employee asks if I need help and she says they don’t have the breakfast bar only the Williamsburg store does. Wtf. But she says they serve sandwiches at 7 but none were out yet. The deli didn’t seem to care at all.

UPDATE — I’m reminded by someone whose judgment I respect that HT gave ice away during Hurricane Isabel. Also I remembered that I got my luggage there as part of a giveaway. Rating adjusted up accordingly. Harry stays Happy.
The best grocery store in Newport News, its opening in the mid 1990s set a standard that looks more impressive every year, as other local supermarkets struggled to keep up (Farm Fresh) or fell further and further behind in quality until just recently (Food Lion… or Loin, as I used to see written on checks when I worked there).
It’s clean, it’s cool, it’s open 24 hours, the premises seem well lit and well ordered, it has really good seafood options, the produce section is well stocked at almost all times (late Sunday night being a possible exception), they almost always have a full rack of free Harry the Happy Dragon sugar cookies, which hit the sweet spot between, er, sweet and sugary. Lines are pretty much non-​existent at the self checkout (or maybe this is an illusion because this store skews older than the one in Charlottesville). They also have a RedBox, one of the few locations where one can converse with strangers in our increasingly atomistic age of SMART cars and wide screen televisions.
So why only 4 stars? Well, Teeters offer (or should offer) delicious sandwich specials for $ 2.50. I ordered a cheesesteak (the special) on Wednesday night about a month ago, and it was terrible– I didn’t finish it. The woman who made it was also working at the meat slicer, and said she wasn’t used to making sandwiches, but they didn’t have anyone else on duty, which makes me think other people don’t get sandwiches there… maybe because they aren’t very good? Anyways, it was a poorly made sandwich, but the meat was very oily, and they didn’t have hoagie dressing. HT can get away with pricing sammys at $ 2.50 because of the other items purchased by people who buy them (this is called a loss leader). Until the HT makes better sandwiches, however, it’s just going to go as a loss… of a star.
Beyond that however, HT rules all your grocery needs in Newport News.