The closed Lowe’s Supermarket in Cornelius is being renovated into a Harris Teeter reclaim center, where out of date or damaged products will be prepared to be sent back to the manufacturers for reimbursement. No customers will have access to the building
May 19. By Dave Vieser. Four years after Harris Teeter officials said they planned to convert the closed Lowe’s Supermarket in Cornelius into a new worldwide specialty food store, they have found a very different use for the vacant 49,000 square foot building located on Kenton Place: An internal reclaim center for their regional operation, without any direct customer use.
“Harris Teeter will in fact be using this location as a center to process reclaims,” said spokeswoman Lea Ramsey. “Reclaims are out of date or damaged products which Harris Teeter is able to send back to the manufacturer and receive reimbursement.”
Work crews were in the vacant building the week of May 9 installing new shelving on the walls. This new use appears to be consistent with town zoning. “As long as it’s an office/retail type use, it would be permitted under the approved zoning,” said Planning Director Wayne Herron.
The saga of what to do with the former Lowe’s store began about four years ago when Harris Teeter acquired a number of Charlotte area Lowe’s food stores, including the Cornelius store on Kenton Place, as well as former Lowe’s in Huntersville and Davidson. At the time, Harris Teeter officials said they expected the Cornelius and Huntersville sites would be converted to “a new innovative format featuring a worldwide variety of wine, beer, specialty foods and other selected merchandise.”
The Huntersville Eastfield Road site was converted, but no work was ever done inside or outside the Cornelius store. Several months later, company officials said they were “reassessing” future plans for the store, and soon thereafter, a large sign indicating that the entire 49,000 square foot site was for sale emerged.
At the time of the 2012 purchase, veteran supermarket experts as well as local shoppers found it surprising that Harris Teeter would consider opening any type of supermarket less than a half mile from their Regency Village store just west of the intersection of Hwy. 73 and West Catawba Avenue.
Over the next several years, the store remained on the market but was never sold nor used. Meanwhile Harris Teeter invested in their Cornelius Jetton Village store, expanding the supermarket to 64,000 square feet, no doubt to compete with the new Publix which opened across Catawba Avenue in 2014.
