Dear grocery stores, please learn from Harris Teeter

This is an "open letter" to all of the grocery stores in our market that will remain in business after the Harris Teeter stores are closed or converted later this year.

That would be Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Publix, Aldi, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Food Lion, Sav-A-Lot and any others I may have missed.

I know that the grocery business is a competitive one and that all of you are vying for loyal customers. And as a "cross shopper" as part of my job, I have been in all of your stores, and I know firsthand that you ALL have your strengths.

But with the news that Harris Teeter will no longer operate here, and that our days as Harris Teeter's "Very Important Customers" (VICs) are numbered, I want to urge other grocery operators to cherry pick some of Harris Teeter's most popular practices and promotions and incorporate them into your stores.

It would help us (customers) and ultimately boost your business. Here goes:

• First, doubling coupons up to 99 cents all the time would be a nice gesture! Harris Teeter even rewarded us with occasional "super double coupon" days when they would double up to $2 face value (Yippee), and every now and then offered triple coupon savings. From a business point of view, these promotions brought in new shoppers and built excitement and loyalty. From a shopper's point of view, it was heaven. Personally, I loved the challenge of seeing how much I could save by being organized and deliberate with my coupons on these super saving days.

• I know a lot of us will miss Harris Teeter's salad bar — not only all of the fresh items, but also the price. At $3.99 a pound, compared with $5.99 a pound at Kroger and $8.99 a pound (Yikes) at Whole Foods, there is a big difference. In a city that seems to be so focused on health and wellness, having a good, affordable salad bar should be a store "go-to" spot for customers wanting a quick and easy, healthy (and cheap) lunch or dinner.

• I have written several times about the cheap chicken in the full service meat counter at Harris Teeter stores. The nice, clean boneless, skinless chicken breasts are inexplicably $1.99 a pound there, compared with sometimes twice that much in the shrink-wrapped packages in the self-service meat department. This is a deal that my family and I will miss. C'mon other groceries — you could offer this in your butcher case, too, and be a real crowd-pleaser!

• Speaking of chicken, lots of HT customers gobbled up the weekend chicken specials where on "Fried Fridays" you could get an eight-piece baked or fried chicken for $4.99, or "Super Sundays" where you could get any style of their rotisserie chicken for $4.99.

• Several readers told me that one thing that keeps them coming back to Harris Teeter is the online shopping and drive-thru pickup, for convenience and for help in staying within budget. And I hear that Kroger has plans to begin that service in at least some of their stores in this area soon, which is a good sign for sure.

• There were also multiple mentions of the beef tenderloin sales, the cheap beer prices, the good pharmacy, the Saturday $13.99 cooked ribs specials and the super inexpensive, loaded sub sandwiches in the deli.

And how about the almost too good to be true "one entree and two sides" for $2.99 deal in the deli? All good to consider.

• BTW, customers also like having lots of samples, in the produce section, at the deli, in the cheese area and, of course, the fresh bread counter and bakery.

• Harris Teeter's "buy two get three free deals" got a lot of rave reviews from customers I heard from, too, particularly when the deals being offered are things easily frozen, stored or frequently used, such as bacon, frozen shrimp and cheese. This week, for example, the flier has a buy-two-get-three-free deal on their store-brand cheeses, meaning you could get five packs of shredded cheese (Parmesan, sharp cheddar, mozzarella, etc.) for $6.30. They are also offering it on Ball Park franks, Ragu pasta sauce, certain Coke products and EZ Peel frozen shrimp.

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• Friendly staff. I know that all of the grocery stores have some great above and beyond associates, but I must say that Harris Teeter does a consistently good job in this department. Believe me, having happy and helpful staff makes a big difference to customers.

• Harris Teeter's Together in Education give back program is another good model. I know that you other groceries, particularly Kroger, have wonderful and generous donation programs to help schools and nonprofits in the community. Please continue these initiatives that allow customers to direct your company's donations to local charities they support. This is a biggie.

Now, to be clear: My intention is not to berate or dress down our other grocery companies that have outlasted Harris Teeter, because I shop with most of you, too, and I regularly find good practices and policies and wonderful associates in your stores.

But I think good, forward-thinking companies can always learn from their competition in their efforts to make their businesses better.

In this case, I really hope so. We will be watching.

And I was heartened to hear Kroger spokeswoman Melissa Eads say this: "We will be working hard in the coming weeks to make sure we provide these new customers with a shopping experience they will enjoy."

In other positive news, Eads also rejected the rumor that Kroger might soon discontinue double coupons in the Nashville market, saying, "No change to double coupons that I am aware of. We are one of the few Kroger markets that still double."

Thanks to all grocery folks for your consideration on these points.

And to my readers — happy shopping!

Stay cheap!

Reach Ms. Cheap at 615-259-8282. Follow her at www.tennessean.com/mscheap, at Facebook.com/mscheap and on Twitter @Ms_Cheap, and catch her every Thursday at 11 a.m. on WTVF-Channel 5's "Talk of the Town."

The news about Harris Teeter

Harris Teeter announced Tuesday that one of its locations would be closed permanently, and that three others would be converted to Kroger stores, effectively taking Harris Teeter out of this market.

The Harris Teeter store at 6002 Highway 100 in Harpeth Plaza will go out of business, while the locations at 2201 21st Ave. S. in Hillsboro Village, 411 Whitman Road in the Westhaven Town Center in Franklin and 210 Franklin Road in Peartree Village in Brentwood will be converted into Kroger stores over the next year.

This news comes a year after Kroger acquired Harris Teeter for $2.5 billion. Kroger retained the Harris Teeter brand in the merger and closed the Belle Meade location in February.