Harris Teeter Tweaks Store Hours

While many restaurants around the country have cut back hours or shuttered their kitchens on certain days of the week due to lack of staffing, some retailers are also making changes due to labor shortages.

For example, starting Sept. 14, Harris Teeter is shortening its hours to 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. In addition to the temporary change in store hours, the retailer is closing its fresh foods service counter and meat department service counter at 8 p.m.

On its website, the company thanked its shoppers and community members “for continuing to show care, gratitude and kindness to our hard-working, valued associates as well as your fellow shoppers.”

A Harris Teeter representative told the Charlotte Observer that the ongoing labor crunch necessitated the move. The operating change will help “manage labor in this difficult employment environment,” said spokesperson Danna Robinson.

Earlier in the pandemic,  the retailer announced a temporary increase of $2 per hour for its hourly associates and offered a one-time bonus of $300 for every full-time associate and $150 for every-part time associate in its retail, distribution center, manufacturing and corporate offices. The company also announced new emergency leave guidelines.

Matthews, N.C.-based Harris Teeter, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co., employs about 35,000 associates at stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and the District of Columbia. Cincinnati-based Kroger is No. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.