HARRIS TEETER PLANNING FLORIDA OPENING

MATTHEWS, N.C. -- Harris Teeter said it plans to open its first store in Florida in the late fall in Mandarin, a small town near Jacksonville.

eral area -- in Ponte Vedra Beach -- early next year, the company said, "and we're looking at one more site in northern Florida," a spokesperson added. Although the three stores mark Harris Teeter's entry into Florida, "we're looking at this as an extension of our stores in Hilton Head, S.C.," the spokesperson told SN.

Harris Teeter, a subsidiary of Ruddick Corp., Charlotte, N.C., operates 144 stores in five states: 93 in North Carolina, 22 in South Carolina, 17 in Virginia, nine in Georgia and three in Tennessee.