Was kind of surprised to see 1-star reviews but they seem to be related to one-off experiences, or the crowded parking lot and busy store. Well..Harris Teeter is a tenant of Reston Town Center (RTC), and newbies to this area should know the reason for the word tenant. "Reston Town Center" is the name of a shopping mall. Yes, RTC is not a town but a mall with a supermarket in it and that's why it's crowded.
I have been going to this store for more than 10 years. I go to just about every grocery store out there from Aldi to Trader Joes to Costco to Whole Foods, and the ethnic stores, too. However for mainstream supermarket shopping, this is my go-to store. The staff, selection, and in-store services here are nearly always very good. They've been friendly and helpful to me. Their attitudes are noticeably better than at other area supermarkets.
I've moved away from Safeway, Giant, and Shoppers for so many reasons. Those two stores have union labor, and I think that may be part of the problem.
The prices at HT are comparable with Safeway and Giant, not as bad as Whole Foods. They do run some good weekly sales every WEdnesday. The e-vic program is worth signing up for. If you don't mind prostituting out your email address you get an email once a week with insider savings. IF you are using e-vic you may find it interesting to know they also customize the e-vic sale with a few additional unadvertised specials that vary from customer to customer.
For those who like organic stuff they have a small organic produce section and tend to have good prices. Although the selection is not as vast as stores like Whole Foods or M.O.M. could save money on most organic items here.
The supermarket is the only 24-hour store in Reston and that is a tremendous plus. Especially if you need some medicine or something in the middle of the night! The health section is surprisingly comprehensive for a supermarket. The prescription counter is closed late nights but you can buy over the counter items at prices that are similar to or lower than retail drugstores.
Other pluses are a very fresh and comprehensive deli, a staffed fresh seafood department and butcher, hot bar, salad bar, sushi counter, in-store eating area. The deli, bakery, and cheese dept are a cut above mainstream supermarkets in terms of quality. The sandwiches made fresh to order are much better quality than sub chains and are reasonably priced.
There are a number of nice services that not all grocery stores have such as they will mail out letters for you, issue rain checks, plastic bag recycling, take your groceries to your car, curbside pickup, a generous coupon policy, a coffee bean grinder, and they actually have people ready to help at their customer service desk at most times of day, unlike some other stores! The store is much more fully staffed than Safeway and Giant, too. So there are more staff around if you have a question or need something.
A neat tip I learned recently is their BOGO deal is really a half-price deal. That is, you do not have to buy one get 1 free, you can buy 1 and it will be half price.
Harris Teeter is a regional chain based in the Carolinas. It was purchased a few years back by Kroger, which is the largest supermarket company in the U.S. but they seem to not have tampered with Harris Teeter's obvious style of friendly, full-service, old fashioned local market feeling.
For a supermarket, H.T. also has a surprising number of gourmet and specialty foods, trying to compete with stores like Wegman's, Whole Foods, and Trader Joes on one end, and similar size stores like Safeway and Giant on the other. Overall, I've always felt Harris Teeter seems to be the Southern lady-and-gentleman's version of Wegman's. I.e. it's a regional supermarket geared towards upper-middle class folks.
HT is starting to carry some of Kroger's store-brand/private label product lines such as the Simple Truth brand of natural and organic packaged products. For competitively priced conventional dry goods and packaged foods there's also the Harris Teeter brand line all over the store. So in some cases you have multiple store-brands to choose from. Nicely priced even when not on sale, and the quality is pretty good, too.
One other thought about Harris Teeter is I've almost never been overcharged for the wrong item. However, if it does happen they will give you the item for free as a courtesy. This is quite a nice service touch compared to other stores that will simply refund the difference. The prices aren't the lowest but you do get a nicer staff and better services than at most other supermarkets. And I've saved money there thanks to their accepting competitor store coupons such as save 10 off a $50 purchase.
All of the service differences and amenities do add up, and are why I'd say this is the best supermarket in town overall. read more
