Harris Teeter expanding in Southeast
Harris Teeter, a subsidiary of supermarket giant Kroger, announced plans on Monday to open five stores in three Southeastern states.
The chain said it will open in Jacksonville, Florida; Clemson, Lake Wylie and Fort Mill, South Carolina; and Kannapolis, North Carolina. All the locations will have fuel centers and pharmacies.
The new store in Fort Mill will be Harris Teeter's fourth there, while the other locations will mark its entry into new markets, according to the retailer that has more than 250 stores across the Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Construction is due to start this year or next, but the chain did not offer opening dates.
Workers feeling inflation's effect
U.S. workers say their paychecks aren't keeping up with inflation, a new report suggests.
More than nine out of 10 respondents report cost-of-living concerns that are leading to delayed purchases of big-ticket items and other difficult decisions, according to online job platform Monster, which surveyed more than 1,200 employees.
"Workers are doing more with less, and they're feeling the strain," said Vicki Salemi, Monster's career expert, in a statement. "Many are taking on debt, dipping into savings, or delaying major life goals just to manage day-to-day expenses."
Employers that want to retain talent must reassess pay and benefits, Salemi noted.
Investors eye rentals rather than flips
Real estate investors are renting more of the homes they buy as they wait out a sluggish market, according to a recent report.
Nearly a quarter of respondents to the RCN Capital/CJ Patrick Company Investor Sentiment Index, a quarterly survey of home investors, said demand for owner-occupied homes has declined since the rise in interest rates that began in 2022. Another 21% said that demand for rental properties is up.
Home flippers represented 38% of respondents, while 44% were rental property investors. However, 55% said they had switched the primary model for their business, with almost 52% saying they have gone to a rental-only strategy and 8% saying they have added rentals to their business.
"Market conditions for real estate investors continue to prove challenging, with stubbornly high financing rates, rising labor and materials costs, and soaring insurance premiums taking a toll on investor profit margins," RCN Capital CEO Jeffrey Tesch said in a statement. "These higher costs have also made affordability a problem for homebuyers — especially first-time buyers — which weakens demand and limits opportunities for fix-and-flip transactions."