Walmart vs. Harris Teeter vie for top grocer spot in the Charlotte region. Who’s winning?

One supermarket chain continues to dominate the Charlotte region’s hyper-competitive and lucrative battle for market share for a third year in a row, according to a new industry report released Wednesday.

It’s Walmart’s third consecutive year with more sales revenue than any other local grocer, according to a report released this week by Chain Store Guide. The sales tracking firm gets its data directly from grocery stores.

Walmart took 21.6% of the market share last year. That’s up from 21.1% the year prior.

Matthews-based grocer Harris Teeter, owned by The Kroger Co., is second for the third year, with a 17.6% market share. The gap in market share between Walmart and Harris Teeter tightened compared to the year before. Harris Teeter saw a rise in market share, according to the survey, from 16.5% in 2020.

In 2019, Walmart knocked Harris Teeter from the No. 1 spot. Harris Teeter held the top ranking for three previous years.

Since 2011, Walmart and Harris Teeter have grappled for No. 1.

Food Lion, based in Salisbury and owned by Ahold Delhaize, ranked third, claiming 14.7% of the market share last year, down from 15.4% in 2020.

Harris Teeter has 60 stores in the Charlotte region, one fewer than the prior year, compared to Walmart’s 28 supercenter stores. Food Lion has 103 regional stores, down one from 2020.

The store trio continues to capture more than half of all local grocery sales last year, despite increased competition from Publix, Lidl and Aldi, according to the report.

Grocery sales worth billions

Regional grocery sales in 2021 totaled nearly $8.5 billion, according to the report.

Overall sales increased 2.4% from the previous year’s $8.2 billion, which occurred despite people sheltering at home through much of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The report considers the Charlotte region to include Cabarrus, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan and Union counties as well as Chester, Lancaster and York in South Carolina.

Other market shares

The intense regional grocery wars also can be seen in the continual splintering of market share.

Rounding out the top 10 after Walmart, Harris Teeter and Food Lion were Publix, 9%; Sam’s Club, 6%; Target, 4.2%; Cotsco Wholesale, 3%; Aldi, 2.1% and Lidl, 2%. Of the top 10, only Target and Cotsco saw modest increases in market share.

Other stores’ market shares included: Whole Foods Market, 1.8%; Dollar General, 1.8%; BJ’s, 1.7%; Ingles, 1.3%; Trader Joe’s, .9%; and Fresh Market, 0.6%.

Bi-Lo stores across the Carolinas closed in April last year.

Charlotte grocery competition grows

The competition for grocery sales grows more fierce as more supermarkets plot expansion plans:

▪ In February, Lowes Foods opened its “first-of-its-kind” store with entertainment at 14021 Boren St. in Huntersville in the former Earth Fare site. The 25,000-square-foot store is smaller than a typical store for the Winston-Salem based grocer. The store — touted as a “community hub” — offers events for children, prepped fruits and vegetables to go, an expanded pickup menu and a place to hold club and class meetings.

Lowes Foods, a subsidiary of Alex Lee in Hickory, has two other Charlotte-area stores in Mooresville and Harrisburg, and plans to open another store next year in Concord to anchor the Christenbury Village shopping center.

▪ Food Lion has opened new stores, too. A 48,000-square-foot Food Lion store opened in January at 2201 West W. T. Harris Blvd., in a former Harris Teeter location. The store features a hot bar, to-go meals and local produce. Last spring, Food Lion opened a store at 1620 Ashley Road in northwest Charlotte in the former Harveys Supermarket location.

▪ Earth Fare returned to the Charlotte market, reopening six stores that closed in 2019 after the company filed for bankruptcy. Asheville-based Hulsing Enterprises bought the brand, resurrecting several of the specialty grocer’s locations, including Rock Hill, Fort Mill, S.C., Davidson, Ballantyne and Concord. Its South Park location closed just months after reopening.

▪ In April 2021, Silicon Valley online-only grocer Farmstead expanded its free delivery service to homes within an hour’s drive of its Westwood Forest warehouse in west Charlotte. The company opened its first East Coast hub in Charlotte in 2020.

▪ Publix, based in Florida, plans to open at least five Charlotte-area stores at the Arboretum, North Creek Village in Huntersville, the 10 Tryon building in uptown, at the corner of Sharon and Colony roads in South Park and at 11525 Carmel Commons.

▪ In June, German discount grocer Lidl store opened at 615 W. Mallard Creek Church Road in University City. In spring 2021, Lidl also opened a store in Steele Creek. Two more stores are planned at South Boulevard and Carmel Commons.

▪ Kroger and technology company Ocado Group in December detailed plans to open a $138 million grocery fulfillment center at 227 Highway 49 in Concord. It will add 722 jobs. Kroger received $7.2 million in state and local incentives, according to Cabarrus Economic Development Corp.

This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Walmart vs. Harris Teeter vie for top grocer spot in the Charlotte region. Who’s winning?."