The Pig gets the axe

As unfortunate as this is, it's not surprising. Harris Teeter has been real aggressive as of late with their development. They've even opened an upscale wine/beer location in Charlotte that not only competes with TW but takes the beverage experience to a new level with culinary appeal. In addition, I'm sure they're preparing to compete with Publix who has recently purchased BiLo stores in NC and is scheduled to open new locations in cities such as Charlotte and Wnston-Salem. As for BiLo purchasing, I'm not sure how they have the funds to do it.

 

Sometimes grocery stores will use sales reports and data to support successful local models that may not match their corporate structure. I think we are all hoping that ht can understand what they are walking into in charleston stores and support the craft movement. We will see.

 

Get out of my head, I was about to post a question asking if the local HTs were going to up their mediocre beer selection.

 

28 Pig stores total were sold; 6 to Kroeger (Harris Teeter was bought out by Kroeger last month for north of $2 Billion, so that's who really bought them) and 22 to BILO. They wont close them completely though, only until they remodel/rebrand them. Whether they keep the beer selection though is a different issue.

http://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/sale-stores-boosts-piggly-wiggly-finances

 

The South Park area in Charlotte has something like 8 within a 5 mile radius. They'd rather have on every few blocks then let a competitor open in a neighborhood.

edit: Yep: http://goo.gl/maps/0mTwp

 

Yeah the way I read it they just don't have the cash to compete with the fancy new HTs, Publixs (Publi?), etc in Metro areas so they are throwing in the towel and only keeping the rural locations where there isn't any competition.

 

HT's upscale place is called 201 Central. It sucks. Their beer is all old and the wine is mostly what you can get exactly across the street at the actual Harris Teeter. Biggest difference is 201 Central carries kegs, nothing really special though. The culinary stuff is basically the cheese bar/olive bar you also see in every HT. I live in Weddington, and have 4 HT's plus the 201 Cental within about a 3-4 minute drive.

I'm not a home brewer, but they do have home brew supplies, I can't imagine they turn it with much frequency though. Good concept, poorly thought out.

What would get me most excited would be if HT bootlegged some COAST and Westbrook to NC so I didn't have to drive over to Grapevine every couple weeks (nothing against Grapevine of course).

 

Near my dad's house down providence rd it's at least that saturated, if not more. On the other hand charlotte actually has population density.

 

Have you ever looked at the dates on the COAST bottles? 3-4 month old hopart isn't unusual. But being a swine, I don't object to pyts in yoga pants, so no reason to burn the place down.

 

If the HT by my house (closest one) carried Hopart and Westbrook IPA, they would never hit those dates.

 

Yep. That's it. Named after the address of the very first HT. I've never been.

 

I should not have said it sucks. I should be giving props to anyone that is out there creating a business around craft beer. That said, I am not sure that they did enough to differentiate themselves from the average HT near my house. Do they have a larger selection, sure. Do they have taps, not the last time I was there. Hopefully the continue to evolve and become much better (especially with growlers coming to NC sometime soon) as it is awfully close to my house.

 

So, let me get this right in my head. Kroger bought Harris-Teeter and now HT is getting aggressive in resort areas of South Carolina? How many total Piggly Wigglys are still out there (as of now)? What is the strategy? Are the PWs undervalued, poorly managed and maintained, and over-saturated in key markets? Really, what is the stategy?