HARRIS TEETER PLANS VIRGINIA EXPANSION

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Harris Teeter plans to enter the Tidewater area of southeast Virginia in 1996 with up to two stores.

The chain also plans to continue opening stores in Atlanta, where it anticipates adding one new store per year, Ed Cook, a spokesman for the 142-unit chain, told SN. Harris Teeter currently operates one store in Atlanta.

Cook said Harris Teeter, a unit of Ruddick Corp. here, anticipates increasing its capital expenditures next year to accommodate new-store and remodeling plans. He declined to specify the dollar amount or the total number of stores involved.

Harris Teeter already operates 19 stores in Virginia, primarily in the western part of the state and along the North Carolina line. Some of those stores are north of the Tidewater area, Cook said.

However, the closest Harris Teeter unit to the Tidewater area is between 50 and 60 miles away, he said.

Local sources reported that Harris Teeter's first two Tidewater stores will be located in Newport News and Virginia Beach.

Cook denied those reports. "We have no deals done at this point," he said, "but we anticipate an entry in the area sometime after 1995.

"On a long-term basis, though, our plans for the Tidewater region are much less aggressive than our plans elsewhere."

The chain plans to open at least three new stores here -- one later this year and two next year -- as well as new units in Raleigh and Hickory, N.C., next year, Cook said.

New stores will fall in the 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot range, compared with the chain's average of 30,000 to 33,000 square feet. Most of the additional space will be used for perishables, Cook said.