Harris Teeter opened its first store in the Clemson area Tuesday, taking over a former Bi-Lo location at 501 Old Greenville Highway just minutes from Clemson University's campus. The grand-opening celebration ran from 4 to 7 p.m. and included a Taste of Teeter event where attendees could sample fall-inspired products.
The new store marks a notable expansion for the Charlotte-area-based grocery chain, which now counts 31 stores across South Carolina. The Post and Courier reported the location's opening at 501 Old Greenville Highway, in a building that previously housed a Bi-Lo supermarket. The Clemson location is the chain's first store in Clemson.
What's Inside the New Store
Shoppers walking into the revamped space will find a Starbucks counter, a Murray's Cheese station, an in-store pharmacy and a Harris Teeter Fuel Center, as reported by Yahoo News. The store pairs grocery shopping with a coffee stop and gas pumps on the same lot.
A Year in the Making
Plans for the Clemson store trace back roughly a year. A Harris Teeter news release dated Nov. 10, 2025, announced the company's intent to build its first Clemson store as part of a five-location push also serving Jacksonville, Florida, Kannapolis, Lake Wylie and Fort Mill. That release projected a 53,000-square-foot store and estimated between 100 and 200 retail jobs created.
The timeline isn't entirely consistent across sources. While the company's own release points to a November 2025 announcement, a report from Upstate Today described Harris Teeter's plans to open in Clemson as having been announced in December 2025. The discrepancy remains unresolved in the available record.
Not Everyone's Celebrating
The opening hasn't been universally welcomed. In an opinion column for The Tiger, Clemson University's student newspaper, writer Lauren Douda argued that adding another major grocery destination wasn't the solution to local shopping needs, writing that “another major shopping destination hardly seems like a solution. Clemson does not need more traffic, particularly in an already busy area.” Her piece was published on The Tiger and reflects her own assessment rather than a traffic study.
Douda also pointed out just how crowded the local grocery landscape already is, noting that Publix, Harris Teeter, Walmart Neighborhood Market and Ingles all sit within a few blocks of one another, with three of those stores located along the same road. She further characterized Harris Teeter as generally pricier than competitors like Walmart and Aldi, a comparison she offered as her own take on the local grocery scene rather than a documented price analysis.
Despite the pushback from at least one student columnist, Tuesday's event marked the opening of a store that's been in the works for roughly a year, bringing a familiar regional grocery brand to a stretch of Old Greenville Highway near campus.
