Harris Teeter Locations Acquired by Kroger in $2.5 Billion Deal
The U.S. grocery store chain Kroger has acquired the upscale grocery chain Harris Teeter in a $2.5 billion deal.
Kroger is the biggest supermarket chain in the U.S. However, it does not have a large presence in the Mid-Atlantic or the Northeast regions of the country. By acquiring Harris Teeter on Tuesday, they hope to up their presence in those regions, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Despite acquiring ownership of the Harris Teeter stores, Kroger does not plan to change them very much. There are no plans to "change all the names to Kroger and homogenize the store experience," chief executive of Kroger David B. Dillon told The New York Times. He went on to explain why.
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"What we're trying to do is not so much a plan of going in and taking over their stores and putting things in place there, which, if I was a customer I actually would be a little afraid of that. In the beginning, I don't think shoppers will see any difference," Dillon said.
In fact, it seems that Kroger will be the chain to change slightly, rather than the newly acquired, smaller chain of Harris Teeter.
"They have a stronger fresh reputation, and by fresh I'm really referring to all the perishable departments, than some of the Kroger operations," Dillon said of his desire to make Kroger stores more like Harris Teeter stores.
"Our intent is to learn from them, 'How do they get that reputation? What are some of the things they do that create that?'" Kroger's chief executive said.
