MY HARRIS TEETER: Kroger taps a veteran North Carolina retail executive to sustain the grocery chain's long-term success.

• Author: Smith, Katherine Snow
• Position: NC TREND: Retail

Tammy DeBoer is relatively new to Kroger and its Harris Teeter unit, where she became president in February. But the Salisbury native is a veteran North Carolina retailer, having spent 17 years at Food Lion and its parent company, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, and five years (2012-17) at Matthews-based Family Dollar Stores.

One of her notable roles was as vice president and general manager of Bloom, Food Lion's effort to create an upscale store brand that launched in 2004. But the business didn't take off, prompting its closing in 2012.

DeBoer moved to Family Dollar, where she was chief merchandising officer amid the company's sale to Dollar Tree in 2016. About two years later, she left to start a consulting business, then joined Matthews-based Harris Teeter in September 2020 as a senior vice president.

In February, she succeeded Rod Antolock as president, becoming only the third person to hold the post in the past 25 years. Fred Morganthall led the company from 1997 through 2015. Harris Teeter, which dates back to Charlotte and Mooresville stores in the 1930s, was acquired by Kroger for $2.5 billion in 2014.

In her first six months leading the 260-store chain, DeBoer is steering the company through a labor shortage, rising food costs, increasing competition and changing shopping habits.

While most shoppers still buy their food at the store, Harris Teeter is raising its digital game with a new app for online ordering and plans to deliver groceries directly to customers' homes. That delivery plan requires dedicated fulfillment centers employing artificial intelligence and advanced robotics, the first of which will open in Frederick, Maryland, this summer. It will be followed by a 200,000-square-foot warehouse in Concord, where Kroger is investing nearly $140 million and expects to eventually employ 700 starting in 2024, according to state government documents.

DeBoer worked at a Food Lion in Boone while earning an undergraduate degree in business and business technology at Appalachian State University. She has also completed a course for supermarket executives at Cornell University.

DeBoer discussed how Harris Teeter is navigating the changing grocery industry.

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