Timing is also important for stock. If you show up on Sunday evening you're going to have your choice of what's left after everybody else picked the place clean from the weekend!
I used to like Harris Teeter too, when I lived in NC. They have self-checkout here too, at least some of the stores do, but I've found it's a bad idea if you have a lot of stuff. For a small number of things, sure, but for me at least very little (if any) time is saved if I've got a whole cartful, and the setup (at least at Super Fresh, where I go most often) is not really big enough to stash that many groceries. And there have been times when there are 6 or 7 people waiting in line to use the self-checkout kiosks.
Maybe it's not me... maybe it's just that the stores around here suck!
