I spend a decent amount of time in Charlotte, and when there I shop at HT. I must say I've never been particularly impressed with their selection. But to be fair, I've never looked at any of their homemade products, which is what a lot of people rave about at Wegman's, etc.

I don't know if this is company-wide, but one thing I CAN'T STAND at the stores I've been to is their check-out. The belt is like two feet long, so you just push your cart up to the end of it and the cashier does the rest. If you're like me and are particular about what goes in what bag, you don't stand a chance!

I think my first sentence came across too negatively - I really just meant that I've had trouble finding things that I would consider standard for any market to carry. Rice stick noodles (for pad thai) comes to mind, but there've definitely been several others.

Kat, when I lived on the Outer Banks we only had Food Lion until the last year we were there and HT came to the area. It seemed like a God-send at the time, although much more expensive. Since moving to the Inner Banks, we still have Food Lion but about 20 miles away we have more choices HT being amoung them. I've spent more time there living here and have come to rely on them for certain things. They have freshly made hoagies in their deli, and I must say they are no where near what we left back in Pa. but they are better than most. The have very good meats and seafood Dept. And honestly are probably comparable in price with most of the stores in the area. Excellent wine selection. I will say that I've never done a full weeks grocery shopping there, but go frequently for their specials! Gina

Our Harris Teeter is the most up-scale store in my town that has a Lowe's, Wal-mart, and lots of Food Lions. The HT has fresh sushi, a large wine dept., lots of international foods, and a very large meat dept. Good specials and produce - plus my favorite FAGE Greek yogurt. People here love this new HT!

fenworth, oh boy, I will be in trouble with how my stuff is placed in bags. I always sort in the cart and when placing on the belt. Makes for a better job of putting stuff away when I get home and gives me some control over stuff getting broken or mashed.

Gina, good meats is something that will be a plus. I don't cook meat often, just me at home. But I do cook nice dinners for family and sometimes it's hard to find the cuts I want. There are a couple of small butcher shops here, both a fair drive for me and the only time I can get to them is on the weekend. And of course neither one is near the stores where I do my weekly shopping. I would like to do that larger shopping trip all in one place and not have to drive 30 miles in one direction and then 20 miles in the other. I don't want to spend most of the day shopping for food, when I could be home cooking it. We do have Food Lion here and rather than go to Walmart I try to shop there for anything I don't pick up after work at Safeway. And I was let down by Safeway this year because they didn't carry the Meyer Lemons. They had them the year before and that was the first time I had been able to find them. SuperG and Super Fresh have never had them. I am hoping HT will carry them this year. Now that I have had some I want more!

Teresa, I have read about FAGE Greek yogurt on a posting here and have looked for it but never found any, nice to know I might have a chance to finally try it.

Thanks everyone for the info. I am already planning a trip with my daughter to check out the new store. I sure hope it is open in early Dec. so I can plan holiday cooking.
Kat

Not worth the trip. Just another supermarket but it is an improvement over food lion if that's all you got to work with.
It's not anything like whole foods or the fresh mkt or trader joes. (I don't see what the fascination is with trader joes)

Guirky - I agree about trader Joes - I shop there very occasionally-I have a client around the corner and cut thru the parking lot and I will stop. Always at the end of the day. I will pick up a few things I like, nothing I can't find elsewhere - never actually find anything for dinner! People here are truly "fascinated" with the place and we have a lot of choices.

Quirky and mago - I'm on board with you about TJ's. But I haven't gone in a couple years, since before reading so many positive comments on this forum. It's on my list of things to try again. I used to go there primarily for Greek yogurt, but nowadays you can get that pretty much anywhere.

We used to have teeters here in atlanta but they closed up shop several years ago. They seemed like bigger stores than what you see on the coast, around Charleston etc. Maybe that is the difference?

I've never been to a Wegmans or a Harris Teeter or a Whole Foods, so I can't conjecture about any of those.

I can say that I like Trader Joe's far better than the new Fresh Market they just opened in Grand Rapids. Fresh Market has the same stuff as the rest of the gourmet food stores, but are a lot more expensive. Still, the place is packed, so it has a certain draw. I do like their coffee.

Trader Joe's has several gluten free products, including bread and pasta, and I get things like walnut oil there. My favorite, that I haven't found anywhere else, is Papadam, a spicy yogurt and something flavored snack chip and the eggplant dip. Yum. Elery buys their frosted bran cereal which both he and I can eat out of the box for a snack and his son, Chris, loves their frozen french fries with some kind of seasoning sauce that you add after they are cooked. I think it may be a chipotle kind of sauce, I don't remember.

I don't buy "normal" groceries at those places because I grow my own meat/vegetables/eggs/fruit and can or freeze them. My purchases are things like breakfast cereal or snacks or coffee, so I'm happy shopping at Trader Joe's or DeRueze's Gourmet Market or Penzey's or G.B. Russo's...

Annie

I have a Harris Teeter about 2 minutes from my house. I do shop there some, but as someone else said, not for a week's worth of groceries. I usually go there for steaks and seafood. I don't think I'd drive 45 minutes to get there. Now, Trader Joe's, on the other hand, we have to drive 45-60 minutes to get to it, but we love it!

As others said, probably not worth a special trip. HT opened across the street (really a 6-lane divided highway) from me 2 years ago, so I stop there frequently on the way home for odds and ends and sale items. They sometimes do carry items that I can't find anywhere else, such as milk from my favorite dairy. (If you grew up on a dairy farm, you'll know what I mean - milk from a good dairy tastes better.) They're kind of quirky in that they don't have an extensive selection of hamburger rolls, but they do have almost the full line of LaBrea breads - and often run BOGO specials on them. Most of their cashiers are local teens and they're always very pleasant and helpful - so much so that I once sent props to corporate praising the staff at this store. Wegmans and Trader Joe's are worth the trip though.

Thanks everyone for the info. I will have to check the store out when they open and will keep tabs on the ads they run. I am sure that they will have a sales flyer and I should get that along with all the others that show up in my mailbox. After I see what they are going to carry, it will be easier to decide if I want to go very often. If they stock Meyer Lemons I will make a special trip for those!
Thank again,
Kat