At long last, Lady’s Island Harris Teeter grocery gets green light to begin building

Construction has begun on a new Harris Teeter store at Lady’s Island’s busiest intersection.

It’s been a long time coming.

And when the Harris Teeter is finished, four major grocery store chains will have stores located within one mile of each other.

“Hopefully pricing at all three stores will come down and be a little bit more competitive,” said Mike McFee, a realtor who serves on the Beaufort City Council.

The 59,306 square-foot store is under construction at 163 Sea Island Parkway. Harris Teeter also is planning to build a 1,476-square-foot convenience store/fuel station at the same location.

A bakery, deli and pharmacy and wine and coffee bars are depicted in the design plans on file with the city.

The city of Beaufort issued final building permits for both buildings on June 13. Site preparation permits had previously been issued.

As of now, a grand opening has not been scheduled, said Paige Pauroso, a Harris Teeter spokesperson, and details of the store won’t be released until that date is set.

Publix is located right across the intersection from the Harris Teeter site. And a Walmart Supercenter opened on Sea Island Parkway, about a mile southeast of the intersection, in 2017. Food Lion also operates a grocery store at 10 Sams Point Road.

The Harris Teeter land had been the location of a Publix but it moved across the intersection in 2014 to build a bigger store. Since then the land has remained vacant with no activity .

McFee suspects that plans were delayed because of internal discussions about whether to build a Harris Teeter or a Krogers after Kroger Co. merged with Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc. in 2013.

Plans for a Harris Teeter store were first submitted to the city in 2015.

Harris Teeter told the city in January 2022 that supply chain challenges and general construction delays had slowed down the project.

Today, a sign at the site announces, “Future Site, Harris Teeter.”

Matthews, N.C.-based Harris Teeter, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co., was co-founded in 1960 by North Carolina grocers W.T. Harris and Willis Teeter.

It operates more than 250 stores and 60 fuel centers in seven states and the District of Columbia.

The Lady’s Island Harris Teeter will be the 13th in South Carolina and the third in Beaufort County (there’s two stores on Hilton Head). It will be the first north of the Broad River.