Harris Teeter announced Nov. 10 it will open five stores in new markets, including in Jacksonville at the Atlantic North shopping center at northwest Atlantic and Kernan boulevards.
It expects to open the store at 11901 Atlantic Blvd. in spring 2026 and will hire 100 to 200 employees. Sleiman Enterprises is the landlord.
Also, Harris Teeter will open a fuel center, which plans show as south of Atlantic Boulevard across the street from the shopping center, and a store pharmacy with a drive-thru window.
The company, a Kroger Co. subsidiary based in Matthews, North Carolina, said it will open over the next couple of years in Jacksonville; in North Carolina in Kannapolis; and in South Carolina in Clemson, Fort Mill and Lake Wylie.
Opening dates have not been announced. It will be the second Harris Teeter operating in Northeast Florida, joining the Fernandina Beach location in Nassau County.
“The expansion marks a significant milestone in the company’s mission to bring high quality, fresh ingredients and exceptional customer service to more communities,” Harris Teeter said.
Harris Teeter said the expansion extends the company’s reach “to serve more neighbors across the Southeast,” said Danna Robinson, director of corporate affairs and customer relations for Harris Teeter.
“We’ve seen incredible support from our customers, and this growth allows us to meet rising demand while continuing to deliver the exceptional experience our brand is known for.”
Harris Teeter also plans to introduce fuel centers and pharmacies at each location, “providing customers with even more convenience during their shopping experience and return on value.”
The company offers its VIC card loyalty program. It said each store will establish partnerships with local food banks “to address food insecurity and ensure neighbors have access to nutritious meals.”
Harris Teeter said that after years of serving Fernandina Beach area, the company will expand in Jacksonville with a 61,000-square-foot store that will include a full-service wine and beer bar; Starbucks Coffee shop; and Harris Teeter Pick Up.
It will feature a new décor package; expanded produce and meat/seafood departments; full-service floral department; expanded deli and bakery department to include fresh pizza; Murray’s Cheese island; an Asian hot bar; and convenient meal solutions, fresh cakes and a bread program.
Harris Teeter said it employs about 36,000 people in more than 250 stores and 85 fuel centers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and the District of Columbia.
Tracking Harris Teeter
A grocery store that matched the operations of Harris Teeter has been working its way through regulatory reviews for the Atlantic North shopping center.
The store would be Unit 400 and would be built new between LA Fitness and Academy Sports + Outdoors. It would not take the much smaller space leased to a furniture dealer after previously being occupied by Earth Fare, which closed.
The city issued a mobility fee calculation certificate Aug. 5 determining that a fee of $459,794 would support the traffic and transit impacts of 64,404 square feet of an inline grocer on 3.71 acres in the shopping center.
Also, Dominion Engineering Group Inc. of Jacksonville submitted civil engineering plans to the city Aug. 11 for a 62,000-square-foot grocery store and 3,200-square-foot liquor store at the site.
Harris Teeter became the speculated tenant after two other grocers that fit the description – Publix Super Markets Inc. and Winn-Dixie – said it was not either of them.
Whole Foods Market is a smaller footprint and does not typically have standalone liquor stores.
An overall site plan with the mobility application shows a shell of 61,294 square feet with an adjacent 3,200-square-foot space previously identified as a liquor store. Dimensions can change through the permitting process.
Site plans show the grocery shell area on what is now grassed land between Academy and LA Fitness. There also is a 6,000-square-foot “future retail” store shown between the liquor store and the fitness center.
The plan also shows a pharmacy drive-thru in the front of the grocery store; a generator, truck well, trash compactor and asphalt behind the store; and pickup lanes in the parking lot near the front of the store
Dominion Engineering Group is the planner and engineer.
Dominion and Sleiman Enterprises affiliate Property Management Support Inc. applied for the mobility fee calculation July 29, 2025.
The size of the store is larger than shown in previous development applications.
City utility JEA issued a service availability letter June 13 detailing the water, sewer and electric connections for a 59,000-square-foot inline grocer and an adjacent 3,200-square-foot liquor store at the property.
Sleiman Enterprises’ site brochure for the property shows a “future build area” in the inline space with no identified tenant.
The JEA site plan says the project plan is for Bondurant Associates.
Bondurant Associates, Engineering & Architecture of Portsmouth, Virginia, provides services for architecture, structural engineering and site development planning and permitting.
Bondurant says on its website that its private sector clients include Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Ingles Markets, Goodmark Foods and BI-LO.
Silverleaf a second possibility
An unidentified 61,000-square-foot grocery store matching the footprint of Harris Teeter is planned as the anchor of a shopping center in the SilverLeaf community in St. Johns County.
There is no confirmation that the store is Harris Teeter.
The site is at northeast County Road 16A and SilverLeaf Parkway.
On Nov. 6, the St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency voted 5-1 to recommend approval of a minor modification to the SilverLeaf Planned Unit Development zoning to allow the store. The modification also would allow an affiliated liquor store and outparcels designed for restaurant tenants to sell alcohol within 270 feet of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Florida instead of the required 1,000 feet.
St. Augustine-based The Hutson Co., through White’s Ford Timber LLC, owns the property. Ellen Avery-Smith of the Jacksonville-based Rogers Towers law firm represents the project. England-Thims & Miller Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer.
Hutson representatives and Avery-Smith decline to comment if Harris Teeter is the planned SilverLeaf grocery store.
Owned by Kroger
Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co. owns Harris Teeter and has established a delivery network in the state, including Northeast Florida.
Harris Teeter has one Florida store in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. That store is 55,000 square feet with a pharmacy.
Harris Teeter has been known in the market for more than 20 years, although it closed a store in Mandarin in 2004 and in Ponte Vedra Beach in 2006.
Kroger bought North Carolina-based Harris Teeter Supermarkets in January 2014.
Kroger launched Kroger Logistics in 2021 with a hub in Groveland in Central Florida and spoke locations, including in North Jacksonville. It has not opened any Kroger-branded stores.
Fuel center
Another clue to Harris Teeter was that Sleiman Enterprises has been exploring development of a gas station along the south side of Atlantic Boulevard, not far from Atlantic North.
Harris Teeter operates Harris Teeter Fuel Centers.
JEA issued a service-availability letter July 31 for the unidentified brand on 3.44 acres directly across Atlantic Boulevard from its intersection with Abess Boulevard, which runs north and behind Atlantic North, connecting with Kernan Boulevard.
Jacksonville civil engineering firm Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. was the applicant for the request submitted July 25.
The Amelia Island grocery store has a Harris Teeter gas station nearby. Nassau County issued a permit Oct. 9, 2020, to remodel the 5,880-square-foot Flash Foods on 1.68 acres at a project cost of $350,000 for a Harris Teeter Fuel Center.
A Harris Teeter spokesperson responded July 29 with the same quote provided June 25 when asked about the potential grocery store:
“We only speak to locations where we are currently operating a store or have executed a lease for a future site.”
Atlantic North has two gas stations with RaceTrac and 7-Eleven.
Firms associated with the project, including Sleiman Enterprises, have declined comment or did not respond.