Despite some concern from investors about the viability of the entire online grocery business, HomeGrocer.com Inc._s stock rose nearly 18 percent when it debuted on Wall Street on Friday.

The stock, priced at $12 per share, finished the day at $14.12 1/2 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It traded as high as $16.25. HomeGrocer.com offered 22 million shares, giving the company $264 million. Trading volume for the day was 20,864,900 shares. HomeGrocer.com takes online orders and delivers groceries to homes in Seattle, Portland, Ore., and southern California. Its backers include Amazon.com and venture capital firms Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Perkins Caufield & Byers. Former Netscape Communications Corp. Chief Executive Jim Barksdale is also an investor and board member. Wall Street has grown leery of online grocery sites in recent months, noting that Web grocers face huge costs as they expand to cities around the nation and advertise aggressively to woo shoppers. They also must fend off new competition from traditional chains that are moving online. Stocks in the sector, including Webvan Group Inc., Peapod Inc. and Streamline.com Inc., have fallen in recent months due to investors_ concerns.