Harris Teeter stores reduce hours due to staffing shortages

Don’t plan on making a late-night grocery run at Harris Teeter anytime soon.

The grocery chain has reduced its hours nationwide. Effective tonight, Harris Teeter stores will close at 9 p.m. local time. Certain store features, such as the butcher and Fishermans Market service counters will close at 8 p.m. These new hours stand indefinitely at this point.

Stores will continue to open at 6 a.m.

The move comes as Harris Teeter continues to struggle filling open positions around the country. Shorter hours will help it handle those staffing issues, as well as allow employees to take their earned days off.

Some stores were open until 11 p.m. previously, and some 24 hours a day.

Harris Teeter has been offering incentives to job applicants since the start of the pandemic, increasing its hourly wages and providing bonuses. The Kroger-owned chain has 250 stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, and Washington, D.C. It currently has over 5,000 job openings.

“We thank our shoppers and community members for continuing to show care, gratitude, and kindness to our hardworking, valued associates as well as your fellow shoppers,” the company said in a post on its website.

Harris Teeter isn’t the only grocer to reduce its hours. Grocerying, a Twitter account that chronicles the grocery industry, notes that some Publix Super Markets are also reducing hours, closing at 9 p.m.