Sold: Kroger Buys Harris Teeter

By Rachel Hatzipanagos.

Kroger has purchased Harris Teeter in a $2.5 billion deal announced Tuesday, but don’t worry — your local store won't close any time soon.

Harris Teeter’s 29 stores in Virginia will continue to operate under the same brand name as a subsidiary of Kroger Co., according to a statement released by the company.

Together, the company will operate 2,631 supermarkets and employ over 368,300 employees across 34 states and D.C. There are no plans to close stores, the statement says.

Kroger praised the agreement and Harris Teeter’s desirable locations in what the company called “high-growth markets, vacation destinations.”

The closest Harris Teeter locations to Annandale are in Barcroft Plaza off of Columbia Pike in Falls Church and the Shops at Foxchase on Duke Street in Alexandria.

The sale is the latest in what has been a tumultuous year for Northern Virginia supermarkets: Magruders, a family-owned Washington area grocery chain, shut down all but one of its area locations in January. And two Giant grocery stores in West End Alexandria closed their doors last month.