WASHINGTON — Harris Teeter opened its newest Washington area store this week in downtown Falls Church, three decades after it lost its last downtown grocer.
The 60,000-square-foot flagship Harris Teeter is at 301 W. Broad St., in a mixed-use building that also includes 282 apartments. The project was developed by Rushmark Properties.
The Harris Teeter store is open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year. It also includes a beer and wine tasting area.
The store hired about 175 full and part-time employees.
The North Carolina-based grocery chain began talks for a City of Falls Church store more than 12 years ago. It was planned as a retail anchor in a development called City Center that was derailed by the Great Recession and was ultimately never developed.
Rushmark Properties finalized the Harris Teeter lease in 2015.
“We are excited about bringing back a full-service grocery to downtown Falls Church,” said Mayor David Tarter. “The grand opening culminates years of planning and public-private collaboration, including the sale of a key, land-banked city property.”
The last grocery store in Falls Church, a Grand Union store at what is now the Broadale Village Shopping Center, closed in the early 1980s.
