By Michelle Wagner
KITTY HAWK
A new Harris Teeter supermarket could be coming to Shoreside Center next year and would replace Seamark Foods, a locally owned grocery store that has been at the center for the past 15 years.
The Kitty Hawk Planning Board is expected to consider the supermarket chain's site plan
tonight. The board would then make a recommendation to the Town Council, which would take up the application at its May 5 meeting.
If plans move forward, Harris Teeter would demolish the Seamark store and two other units at the center and build a larger supermarket, said Kitty Hawk Planning Director Joe Heard.
Seamark's lease at the center ends May 1.
When completed, the new store would be 48,867 square feet, compared with about 30,500 at the Seamark, Heard said.
The new store would be similar in size and appearance to Harris Teeter's Kill Devil Hills store, which opened in 2006, said project engineer Eddie Valdivieso of Quible & Associates in Kitty Hawk. The plan incorporates coastal features into its design, he added.
The renovations would extend into the parking lot, reducing it by 53 parking spaces. Heard said that would not be an issue because the center already has much more parking than the town requires.
"They are looking to open by next year's season," Heard said. "So they would be open one year from now or sooner."
The units next to the Seamark - Top Nails and Bellalago hair salon - would move to where a Dollar Tree store had been located in the shopping center.
Harris Teeter's site plan does not require rezoning or a conditional use permit, Heard said, and the plan would not require a public hearing.
The owners of Seamark Foods closed their Nags Head store in November, citing competition from a nearby Food Lion. That Seamark opened in March 1989.
The store at Kitty Hawk's Shoreside Center opened in 1993.
The two Seamarks were the only large locally owned supermarkets on the Outer Banks. Food Lion has dominated the local market for many years, and Harris Teeter - based in Matthews, N.C. - more recently moved in with stores in Kill Devil Hills and Corolla.
Harris Teeter officials declined to comment on the site plan.
"It is against Harris Teeter corporate policy to share information on a site until a lease is fully executed," Jennifer Panetta, the supermarket chain's director of communications, said in an e-mail.
Seamark Foods' owners, Tim and Susie Walters, could not be reached for comment.
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It's so sad to see Seamark
It's so sad to see Seamark closing. I had a panic attack when the Nags Head store closed. We knew the Kitty Hawk store would close and now we have to deal with that. Seamark was a local's store, a place you could go to and know where everything was, if they didn't have something they would get it for you. It was where you wouldn't have to fight with the tourist, they would open up a register if they got busy. It was a place where you knew the employees and they knew you. Talk about "treat you like family" they were a family! The grocery stores on the beach now just don't give you that "warm fuzzy feeling" that Seamark did. The Outer Banks has lost some great landmarks the past several years and it is so sad to see this landmark leaving us. At one time the Outer Banks mall had a slogan "Friendly Faces, Familiar Places", that best described Seamark. Some of their employees were there from the day the mall opened. They were a dedicated staff. Let's not let this happen to other local businesses... support your local shops! Joe, Tim, April, Brent, Doris, Brandy, Scott, Crystal, Amber, Miss Robbie, and the rest of the crew, we appreciated you and miss you!!!