HT back in Gaston
Supermarket giant Harris Teeter opening southeast Gastonia store on Sept. 27
The return of supermarket chain Harris Teeter to Gaston County now has a date.
The store near the intersection of Robinwood and Kendrick roads in Gastonia will have an opening event 5 p.m. Sept. 27, spokeswoman Danna Robinson said.
Harris Teeter, which is a subsidiary of Kroger, has also signed a lease for a location across from South Point High School in Belmont.
The opening date for that store should be around August 2017, developer Larry Raley previously told The Gazette.
Harris Teeter pulled out of Gastonia in 2012 to refocus on Charlotte and other markets. Its two local sites became Lowes Foods, which later left, as well.
The 53,000-square-foot, $6.7-million Gastonia store will anchor a shopping center that will include Hungry Howie’s Pizza, UPS, Great Clips and Lee Nails.
The developer, MPV, finished buying about 10 acres of land in January 2015 to build the shopping center. The company paid about $3 million in total to five landowners, according to county records.
In 2013, MPV decreased the projected size of the proposed Harris Teeter store and accompanying shopping center in order to move the project to a smaller site than the one it first chose across the street.
Gastonia City Council blocked the original project proposal by turning down a zoning request.
Residents had expressed fear over potential traffic problems and a desire for a neighborhood to go onto the larger site.
In July, Publix opened its first grocery store in Gaston on Hoffman Road. A Wow Supermarket is expected to fill the spot in Dixie Village, near the Wal-Mart on Myrtle School Road, that used to house Compare Foods.
Jonathan Ramkissoon, head coach at the Armstrong Athletic Club located just south of the new Harris Teeter, said he and the club’s leadership are hopeful for a business bump from the supermarket’s opening.
Even 11 years after the club opened, and five years after Ramkissoon joined, the club still gets first-time customers who had no idea it existed, he said. Parents stopping by the grocery store after picking up or dropping off their children might spy the club and take an interest.
“It will be a good thing,” Ramkissoon said. “We should see an increase in members.”
You can reach Wade Tyler Millward at 704-869-1819 and Twitter.com/WadeMillward.