Originally uploaded to flickr by jsmjr
Is it lame to devote a post to a grocery store? A chain grocery store at that? Perhaps. But try as I might to pay homage to some niche element of the Hill today, I just couldn’t get the idea of writing about the store out of my head.
Perhaps I’m especially grateful because as an undergrad at Catholic U, my main option for food outside the dining hall was limited to the Giant on Rhode Island Ave NE, which was consistently under stocked with groceries and overstocked with people. After college I lived in Chinatown, where there wasn’t a single major grocery store to be found (thankfully for those residents, a Safeway has since moved in).
It may not have the allure of Georgetown’s “Social Safeway” but the Harris Teeter on Potomac Ave SE has my heart. I’ve heard people say the Teeter chain in general is overpriced, but for me, the convenience afforded by a clean and well stocked store, free parking garage and helpful staff are worth a couple of extra dollars. I even went so far as to test this theory a couple months back at another store on the Hill and came to find it didn’t have any lettuce that wasn’t nearing its expiration date or wilted.
The few times I’ve had an issue with something I purchased at the Harris Teeter, a store associate took it back willingly. While I’m ashamed to admit it would be pretty easy to actually go to the Post Office and buy stamps, I’ve definitely bought a few extra books around the holidays from their Customer Service counter.
The beer and wine selection is extensive, and people restocking the shelves are generally pretty knowledgeable about the offerings. The pharmacy is open on Sundays, and the store offers cookies and balloons (not to mention those mini-shopping carts) for little kids. For my fellow germaphobes, hand sanitizing wipes are provided for the carts. And don’t pretend you don’t marvel at the coolness of the escalator that transports your cart full of groceries down to the garage on the way out.
They’re the ONLY place I’ve found that carries 30-pack cubes of Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers. With some limes and kosher salt, I’m set for a weekend of barbecuing and getting stinko.
I grew up on Harris Teeter in North Carolina, so I’m always grateful for this piece of home on the Hill! Plus they have a sushi counter!
The Teeter was a fantastic addition to the Hill. The new one in NoMa on 1st Street NE is even better. Bigger, shorter lines, generally wider selection. My only complaint about them both is that the butcher counter is pretty weak. Fortunately, we have Eastern Market to make up for that.
I love the convenience of HT. I just wish they had a better selection of produce and a better bakery. More/shorter check-out lines would be nice, too.
The southerner in me longs for Publix. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, consider yourself lucky. Growing up with Publix means that I will be forever disappointed with every other grocery store on the planet!
Having said that, I’m sort of partial to the Safeway on the Hill.
Phil, I’m with you, I prefer the new Harris Teeter in NoMA (even though I know this is a Hill focused blog). But, I do love Harris Teeter in general and the Potomac Avenue one is great, too.
MJ, I know all about missing a grocery store from home. For me, it’s Buehler’s, a local chain in parts of Ohio.
meh…i think their service is slipping, and i’m always amazed at how they advertise something in the circular that isn’t on the shelves.
i WILL give them props for a few things: the deli dept.’s pepperjack pimento cheese, boar’s head deli meat offerings, garage-parking!, and flat-iron steaks (a cut that’s difficult to find but oh-so-delicious).
when i have more time, i prefer to drive out to wegman’s at woodmore plaza.
I’m not a huge fan. While their produce is generally better, I find their selection of pantry staples to be limited and disappointing. I prefer Safeway or the new Giant in Brentwood.
If produce is your thing, you need to hit the Shopper’s Food Warehouse on rt. 1 in Virginia. Really?? Really.
@asw – flat iron steaks are not hard to find. Both Canales and Union Meat always have them in stock at Eastern Market.
I love the convenience of HT, but think they have stopped selling bags of limes just so they can make a killing on selling individual limes at 75 cents a pop. Robbery.
Good selection, but too expensive to make the switch from Safeway.
The parking garage is priceless when it is raining and you have a toddler to get in and out of the car!
@rake, for $5.99/pound?
Personally, I find Safeway and Giant to be more expensive than HT, but I guess it depends on what you’re buying.
I had an irritating experience recently when someone from the suburbs came to visit and was appalled that some of the weekend produce vendors at Eastern Market were “ripping people off”. She meant that the prices were high compared to Grand Mart/H Mart in Virginia (where that stuff costs 1/3rd of what it would elsewhere), and that the apples were small and not uniformly shaped and one or two might have had a bruise on them. I tried to explain that there’s a big difference between strolling down the street to buy locally grown produce and driving to a chaotic Asian grocery store to buy stuff that was bred by agribusiness to be shipped halfway around the world (not that I don’t enjoy both shopping experiences!) but she didn’t want to hear it…
Also, I think the belief that Harris Teeter is more expensive than, say, Safeway is psychological to some extent because the appearance and selection at Haris Teeter is a little more like what you’d see at Whole Foods which IS expensive.
The big question though – why can’t I get any reception inside the Potomoc Ave HT on ATT? Seriously, nothing!
SE HILLER – I hear ya! I should have included that as the one issue that must be fixed!
I don’t think HT is more expensive if you pay attention to sales etc.
I’ll agree w/ ASW, I love canales etc at Eastern Market, but sticker shock sets in when they ring you up.
One the best additions to the HT on Potomac ave is the STOP signs at the parking garage entrance/exit. People just come barreling out of there and the hedges block the sight line.
@gotta vent: hate to break it to you but the majority of stuff at eastern market is not locally grown. Last I checked kiwis and strawberries are not grown in abundance in February in West Virginia.
@Rukasu… haha. Exactly. There have been a number of press accounts nationwide of the proliferation of vendors selling “local” produce that is actually being bought wholesale at the same place supermarkets are buying their produce. Additionally, there is less control over that vendor’s assertions of locally grown, organic, etc. There’s a sucker born every minute.
@Rukasu & HT– Hah! You seriously think I didn’t know that? But there ARE a few vendors selling locally grown stuff and those are the ones she was referring to– that’s why it didn’t look like the produce she was used to seeing in the regular grocery stores. I will agree that the Asian people selling random out-of-season produce inside are scammers and I don’t understand why anyone would buy from them.
@gotta vent: I actually like the Koreans, they have random cooking supplies and sauces that are a lot more convenient getting from them than going to Whole Foods. It’s the sketchy old lady outside who is the scammer. A bag of 3 russet potatoes and 2 tomatoes for $3…c’mon
But “shhhh” let the Virginian suburbanites think it’s local
I’m confused as to how any of these people are “scammers”. They sell produce. If you judge the price to be too high, don’t buy. Unless they are attempting to deceive you, I wouldn’t
i like the koreans, too! i’ve been shopping from them for years. they are so nice, and their produce is just as fine as anyone else’s, plus cheaper. and i always get an extra free banana.
I couldn’t agree more, and I love the sushi bar (you can even request sashimi), but the AT&T reception problem is almost a dealbreaker for me. Why don’t they fix that?