Patrick Coughlin was taken aback the first time he saw the sign along N.C. 211 touting the future site of a Harris Teeter grocery store in Taylortown.

“I was a little bit surprised,” said Coughlin, president and CEO of the Moore County Chamber of Commerce. “I wondered if it was going to be replacing an existing store. But I think that location makes a lot of sense.”

Danna Jones, a communication specialist at Harris Teeter’s corporate headquarters in Matthews, confirmed earlier this week that the company has purchased the land at the corner of N.C. 211 and Main Street, just west of Olmsted Village.

“We do plan to build a store there,” Jones said in an email. “I will not have any more details until we are within one year of the store opening date.”

Coughlin said most of the residential growth in Moore County is occurring along the N.C. 211 corridor between the Pinehurst Traffic Circle and Seven Lakes.

“Pinehurst is now the largest municipality with the annexation of Pinewild,” he said. “It makes sense that Harris Teeter would want to tap into that market to make it more convenient for their shoppers.”

Coughlin added that if Seven Lakes were incorporated, it would be the third-largest municipality in the county, behind Pinehurst and Southern Pines.

“There are a tremendous number of people who live out there, and this is going to be a great location for them, especially those who commute to work in southern Moore County,” he said.

Seven Lakes is currently home to a Food Lion grocery store, while Lowes Foods is located in Olmsted Village.

Harris Teeter has two other locations in the county: Center Park Shopping Center, between U.S. 1 and U.S. 15-501 in Aberdeen, and Mill Creek Shopping Center, between N.C. 22 and Airport Road in Southern Pines.

The 53,000-square-foot store at Mill Creek opened last fall and employs about 90 people. The store includes a variety of sustainable, energy-efficient designs and practices. These include LED lighting on the frozen food and dairy doors, a white reflective energy-efficient roof, and water-saving devices on the hand sinks and waterless urinals.

While it remains to be seen if the new store will be constructed along similar lines, Coughlin believes it will be a boon for Taylortown.

“I think the increase in tax base will be wonderful for them,” he said. “I’m anxious to hear when Harris Teeter is going to start moving dirt and when they plan to open the new store.

“I’ll also be interested to hear what other commercial development is planned for that area.”

Harris Teeter, a subsidiary of publicly traded Ruddick Corp., reported third-quarter sales of $1.15 billion, a 4.6 percent increase over sales of $1.1 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2011. For the 39 weeks ended July 1, sales increased by 6.5 percent, to $3.39 billion from $3.18 billion for the comparable period of fiscal 2011.

“We are pleased with our results for the quarter,” Thomas W. Dickson, the company’s board chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Our pricing and promotional strategies continue to be effective in driving unit sales, customer visits and increasing market share. During the quarter we experienced increased unit sales on a comparable store basis and have continued this positive trend into the fourth quarter.”

Contact Ted M. Natt Jr. at (910) 693-2474 or tnatt@thepilot.com.