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Big store, big reputation
What effect will Wegmans have on other grocers?
Date published: 6/20/2009 BY CATHY JETT Wegmans doesn't open in Celebrate Virginia South until 7 a.m. tomorrow, but its effect is already being felt. The Rochester, N.Y.-chain worked for months to find 40 local farmers whose succulent Hanover tomatoes, crisp Asian pears and other items will be featured in the produce department. Its hiring office was inundated by 5,600 applicants for 500 positions--the most applicants ever for a new Wegmans. And it has booked 1,300 nights at nearby Homewood Suites for the additional employees it's brought in to help train staff and be on hand for the store's first four weeks. But what counts is customers, and more than 7,000 already have logged onto the Fredericksburg store section of Wegmans' Web site and applied for loyalty cards, said spokeswoman Jo Natale. "A lot of people here already had them because they've been shopping at our other stores," she said. Among them is a woman who sorely missed Wegmans' subs, salads and store brands when her family moved from Rochester to Fredericksburg. "I can hardly wait until this store opens up," she wrote in an e-mail she sent the company. "I honestly find myself awake at night thinking about it." Wegmans got its start in 1916 when brothers John and Walter Wegman began peddling produce from pushcarts. Fourteen years later they made national headlines when they opened a 20,000-square-foot store with such eye-popping innovations as vaporized water spray to keep produce fresh and a 300-seat cafeteria. Today, the chain has expanded from New York into New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and, most recently, Virginia. It opened a store in Dulles in February 2004 and in Fairfax one year later. Last year it opened two in opposite ends of Prince William County, one in Woodbridge and the other in Gainesville. According to the latest grocery market-share survey by Food World magazine, Wegmans is now the eighth-largest chain in the greater Washington area, with sales of nearly $249 million between April 1, 2008, and March 31 of this year. That ranking may eventually rise with the opening of its store here and a sixth that is planned for Leesburg.
Date published: 6/20/2009
old Winn Dixie
(posted by
My2CentsWorth
, June 21, 2009 8:38 am)
is being remodeled, and will open as a furniture store - something else our area really needs.
SFW doesnt have a comprehensive
(posted by
Jaes
, June 21, 2009 8:34 am)
product line, but they are much cheaper than Wal-mart.
Will SFW go belly up?
(posted by
MrZorro
, June 21, 2009 6:35 am)
Near Wegmans are Costco, Giant, Walmart, , SFW, Ukrops, and Bloom.
SFW has the least customers, and Walmart has the most. People want low prices of Walmart versus the high quality and prices at Wegmans and the rest.
We need one out west!
(posted by
emptyhouses
, June 21, 2009 5:32 am)
Hopefully they will open one off of Route 3, near the Spotsy - Orange County border. I hear there is some proposed development planned near there.
Doc, how is it Silvers fault
(posted by
Ron_C
, June 20, 2009 10:42 pm)
if one grocery can't or won't compete when a new one comes to town? As to your specific mention of Winn Dixie, How can you blame Silver for their filing for bankrupcy 4 years ago and closing all of their locations in VA, NC and SC? If increased compitition brings better quality, better variety and/or lower prices how is that a bad thing? Blame Silver for the traffic mess around Central Park and Cosners Corner and balking on their promises they make to get zoning changes, but not this.
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