By Andrea K. Walker , Sun Reporter|May 06, 2008
Decadent desserts gleam from behind counters encased in wood and metal: chocolate mousse cake covered in chocolate shavings, tarts with marshmallows on top, coconut tiramisu. Across the aisle two employees pinch ginger from huge piles and place it on sushi plates. Another worker hands a slice of homemade pizza to an area worker in early to beat the lunch crowd.
It's a typical morning at the Harris Teeter supermarket in Arlington, Va. It's also a glimpse at what Baltimore area shoppers can expect as the Charlotte, N.C., grocer enters the local market, with its first store opening in Columbia's Kings Contrivance Village Center May 20. It will open a store in South Baltimore in 2010.
The supermarket chain recently signed a lease to anchor McHenry Row, a mixed-use development of shops, office buildings and apartments being built at the former Chesapeake Paperboard site in Locust Point.
Residents and city business experts say the 60,000-square-foot store will fill a void in an area where there are few choices. The only grocer near Locust Point is a Shoppers on Fort Avenue.
Harris Teeter is also looking to possibly build at the Canton Crossing development, although it has yet to sign a lease.
"This is about as high-end as you can get for a grocery store," said Mark Sapperstein, the developer of McHenry Row, who compared Harris Teeter to a smaller version of Wegmans Food Markets Inc.
Harris Teeter is the latest grocer to jump into the city, an area chains had largely shunned for decades.
Despite a sluggish economy, high food prices and consumers who are pinching pennies, high-end grocers still see a market in Baltimore, said Anirban Basu, chief executive of Sage Policy Group, a Baltimore economic consulting firm. Empty-nesters with high disposable incomes are increasingly calling the city home, he said. Baltimore also still lacks retail when looking at the demographics of the city, he said.
"For a long time Baltimore has been significantly under-retailed and suppliers are beginning to recognize that in larger numbers," Basu said. "That has happened because overall the city's demographics still don't look particularly attractive. Retailers need to understand there are two Baltimores. One Baltimore is affluent, growing in population, growing in prosperity and enjoys a significant level of disposable income. That group has often been hidden in the overall demographics of the city."
