Wegman's

[Pete from Boston]

Wegman still has the weak spot of price.  ShopRite may lose customers who are all into the theme-park feel, but their parking lots are still full because their prices are just lower.

[empirestate]

Wegman still has the weak spot of price.  ShopRite may lose customers who are all into the theme-park feel, but their parking lots are still full because their prices are just lower.

Perhaps that's why Wegmans is popular in NYC: every store here has the weak spot of price, so that takes away Wegmans' primary drawback. They would definitely put a place like Stew Leonard's to shame.


iPhone

[cl94]

And then you have the Niagara Falls Wegmans, which I stopped in before lunch. Felt like a Price Chopper inside (and not in a good way). The Tops down the road is actually nicer, as is the Walmart (!) across the street, and neither has the amount of annoying old people blocking the aisles and running you down in the parking lot.

[Buffaboy]

I still remember the days when the Wegmans I would shop at wasn't renovated, and the aisles were dim lit and the floors, shelves and registers were grimy. Yet you got the Wegmans quality we all love. I actually liked that Wegmans.

[empirestate]

I still remember the days when the Wegmans I would shop at wasn't renovated, and the aisles were dim lit and the floors, shelves and registers were grimy. Yet you got the Wegmans quality we all love. I actually liked that Wegmans.

Oh yes; their higher-tone branding is a very recent (and perhaps partly unintentional) development.


iPhone

[cl94]

It's as if there are 2 separate chains. Western New York Wegmans is Tops/Price Chopper/ShopRite/your typical supermarket chain but with better prepared foods and fewer name brands, but rest of the country Wegmans is this high-end food mecca.

[route17fan]

I do miss Wegmans and wish they migrated west to Ohio (not going to happen, I know, but I do miss them)

[cl94]

I do miss Wegmans and wish they migrated west to Ohio (not going to happen, I know, but I do miss them)

Wegmans would have been great in Ohio. I was in Columbus in the mid-2000s. Kroger (the market leader) had dumpy locations everywhere. We split our shopping between Walmart, Meijer, Whole Foods, and Giant Eagle to get everything we wanted at decent prices. What's nice about Wegmans is that my parents can buy most of their food in one place and only have to hit up Walmart once or twice a month for the stuff they have really cheap. Heck, I as a college student do most of my shopping at Wegmans, mainly because one of their very few "fancy" locations in Western New York is just off of campus.

[route17fan]

I do miss Wegmans and wish they migrated west to Ohio (not going to happen, I know, but I do miss them)

Wegmans would have been great in Ohio. I was in Columbus in the mid-2000s. Kroger (the market leader) had dumpy locations everywhere. We split our shopping between Walmart, Meijer, Whole Foods, and Giant Eagle to get everything we wanted at decent prices. What's nice about Wegmans is that my parents can buy most of their food in one place and only have to hit up Walmart once or twice a month for the stuff they have really cheap. Heck, I as a college student do most of my shopping at Wegmans, mainly because one of their very few "fancy" locations in Western New York is just off of campus.

I don't blame you my friend.

[Takumi]

There are a pair of Wegmans opening in the Richmond area within the next year or so. Lots of people were excited for it when it was first announced, but they're too far away from me to be practical for me to do my shopping. I rotate between Aldi, Food Lion, and Target for my grocery shopping.

[Desert Man]

I work in a grocery store chain based in so CA owned by the Kroger co. (feel free to guess the name) and Kroger is a competitor to Wegman's back east (as we call them in CA). Nice to read how good (or bad) Wegman's are in availability of groceries, their prices and customer service. I can name 5 competitors: Albertsons (they bought Safeway who owns Vons), Stater Bros. based in San Bernardino, Winco which has like 100 stores in the west coast (they have one in my area in Indio), Trader Joe's and Jensen's (exotic or special groceries). And least not forget Wal-mart's Neighborhood Market operations, as well their main stores carry a grocery dept. Competition is what makes America go round and it's nice to be loyal to a store...of your personal choice. 

[SteveG1988]

I normally shop at Acme and ShopRite, they are 1 mile away from my current location in NJ, Wegmans is 10 miles away. I normally shop there if i want something special. They have more imported food options than the other stores in my immediate area. I get frozen curry there for example, and various imported canned foods.

[briantroutman]

Wegmans outside of Western New York is an entirely different animal than it is around here. Here, most Wegmans locations are the size of your typical supermarket, only with worse selection and lacking a butcher shop. There are a couple that look like the stores elsewhere, but many are actually worse than some Tops locations.

Not in Philly.  I think their newer locations are more grandiose than any of the ones I've visited near Buffalo.  They have everything, including a full-service pub.

I was just about to say–cl94, I don't know where you're coming from because that's been the opposite of my experience in all of the outer Wegmans service areas I've either lived in or visited: Williamsport, Allentown, suburban Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. They've all been expansive stores with large bakeries, cafés, and amenities to best the biggest competitors in town.

Perhaps this varies from metro to metro or from one product category to another, but I've never understood this general "Wegmans is expensive"  objection I've encountered from time to time. I can only speak to my personal experience: When I lived in various parts of suburban Philadelphia, my choices were often either Wegmans or Acme.

If you were willing to overlook the fact that most Acme stores were disgusting, run-down holes in the wall, you might do slightly better at Acme on price–but ONLY if you had a shopper club card, bought only the items on sale, and NOTHING else. A box of Cheerios might be on "sale"  for $2 one week, but then the "regular"  price of $6 the next. Woe be unto you if you wanted Cheerios on the wrong week.

That is contrasted with Wegmans model where the same box Cheerios might be $3 every week. Particularly for individuals and small families who have neither the number of mouths to eat up the items purchased on blowout sales nor the storage space to stockpile items that might go bad anyway, Wegmans steadier pricing model makes more sense. Further, with the low prices, decent quality, and wide selection of Wegmans store brand products, I found that I could be equally satisfied and enjoy even lower prices.

And being a vegetarian, Wegmans had a selection of veggie burgers, Tofurkys and the like to match anything any Whole Foods or hippy co-op could offer, often at better prices.

Honestly, Wegmans and rain may be competing for the #1 thing I miss about the East. I hate Safeway beyond words.

[1995hoo]

The new Wegmans near our neighborhood opened last Sunday. I did not go because I expected crowds. I was right: the radio said 1800 people were already standing on line when the store opened at 7:00 AM. I had better things to do at that time of day, namely sleeping!

I work a half day tomorrow, so I'll head to the new store for fish for dinner and to get lunch at the in-store pub.

Haven't decided whether we'll do our regular shopping there. The gas points at Giant are a big deal since two of our three cars specify premium-grade gas. Other thing is, I love the self-scanner gun at Giant: You have the option of taking a handheld barcode scanner when you enter the store, scanning and bagging your groceries as you go, and then just scanning an "end of order" barcode at the checkout. So you don't have to unload all your groceries simply to allow the cashier to rearrange them and put them back into the cart. Wegmans doesn't offer that device. Once you get used to it, it's hard to go back to the old-fashioned way.

[cl94]

Wegmans outside of Western New York is an entirely different animal than it is around here. Here, most Wegmans locations are the size of your typical supermarket, only with worse selection and lacking a butcher shop. There are a couple that look like the stores elsewhere, but many are actually worse than some Tops locations.

Not in Philly.  I think their newer locations are more grandiose than any of the ones I've visited near Buffalo.  They have everything, including a full-service pub.

I was just about to say–cl94, I don't know where you're coming from because that's been the opposite of my experience in all of the outer Wegmans service areas I've either lived in or visited: Williamsport, Allentown, suburban Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. They've all been expansive stores with large bakeries, cafés, and amenities to best the biggest competitors in town.

Perhaps this varies from metro to metro or from one product category to another, but I've never understood this general "Wegmans is expensive"  objection I've encountered from time to time. I can only speak to my personal experience: When I lived in various parts of suburban Philadelphia, my choices were often either Wegmans or Acme.

If you were willing to overlook the fact that most Acme stores were disgusting, run-down holes in the wall, you might do slightly better at Acme on price–but ONLY if you had a shopper club card, bought only the items on sale, and NOTHING else. A box of Cheerios might be on "sale"  for $2 one week, but then the "regular"  price of $6 the next. Woe be unto you if you wanted Cheerios on the wrong week.

That is contrasted with Wegmans model where the same box Cheerios might be $3 every week. Particularly for individuals and small families who have neither the number of mouths to eat up the items purchased on blowout sales nor the storage space to stockpile items that might go bad anyway, Wegmans steadier pricing model makes more sense. Further, with the low prices, decent quality, and wide selection of Wegmans store brand products, I found that I could be equally satisfied and enjoy even lower prices.

And being a vegetarian, Wegmans had a selection of veggie burgers, Tofurkys and the like to match anything any Whole Foods or hippy co-op could offer, often at better prices.

Honestly, Wegmans and rain may be competing for the #1 thing I miss about the East. I hate Safeway beyond words.

I'm saying that many Western New York Wegmans locations aren't anything to write home about. I've been in the more-distant (i.e. New Jersey and SE Pennsylvania) ones and they are pretty big. Much larger than anything you'd find in Buffalo or Rochester. Wegmans is cheap, but the hype I hear from out of town doesn't really apply in the areas where Wegmans has been for 30+ years. To someone who lives in Buffalo, Wegmans is Rochester's version of the standard supermarket because the locations here are small and simple.

Wegmans-mania baffles me because, at least where I've lived, Wegmans is no different than your average supermarket.

[empirestate]

I work in a grocery store chain based in so CA owned by the Kroger co. (feel free to guess the name) and Kroger is a competitor to Wegman's back east (as we call them in CA). Nice to read how good (or bad) Wegman's are in availability of groceries, their prices and customer service. I can name 5 competitors: Albertsons (they bought Safeway who owns Vons), Stater Bros. based in San Bernardino, Winco which has like 100 stores in the west coast (they have one in my area in Indio), Trader Joe's and Jensen's (exotic or special groceries). And least not forget Wal-mart's Neighborhood Market operations, as well their main stores carry a grocery dept. Competition is what makes America go round and it's nice to be loyal to a store...of your personal choice. 

Wait, where is Wegmans overlapping with all those west coast brands such that they're competitors? Or am I misreading this?

Other thing is, I love the self-scanner gun at Giant: You have the option of taking a handheld barcode scanner when you enter the store, scanning and bagging your groceries as you go, and then just scanning an "end of order" barcode at the checkout. So you don't have to unload all your groceries simply to allow the cashier to rearrange them and put them back into the cart. Wegmans doesn't offer that device. Once you get used to it, it's hard to go back to the old-fashioned way.

One of Wegmans' best-known attributes is being very generous to its employees. I don't know if this results in an intentional policy of avoiding self check-outs or if there's some other reason. Or none in particular (but I find that doubtful).

I was just about to say–cl94, I don't know where you're coming from because that's been the opposite of my experience in all of the outer Wegmans service areas I've either lived in or visited: Williamsport, Allentown, suburban Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. They've all been expansive stores with large bakeries, cafés, and amenities to best the biggest competitors in town.

Yeah, that's because he's in the Buffalo area, where most of the stores are still the older-style, average-supermarket type of model. Even in their home turf of Rochester, where the modest stores used to be the norm, they've now largely been upgraded so that they resemble the out-of-state market more than they do the Western NY vibe.

Perhaps this varies from metro to metro or from one product category to another, but I've never understood this general "Wegmans is expensive"  objection I've encountered from time to time. I can only speak to my personal experience: When I lived in various parts of suburban Philadelphia, my choices were often either Wegmans or Acme.

If you were willing to overlook the fact that most Acme stores were disgusting, run-down holes in the wall, you might do slightly better at Acme on price–but ONLY if you had a shopper club card, bought only the items on sale, and NOTHING else. A box of Cheerios might be on "sale"  for $2 one week, but then the "regular"  price of $6 the next. Woe be unto you if you wanted Cheerios on the wrong week.

That is contrasted with Wegmans model where the same box Cheerios might be $3 every week. Particularly for individuals and small families who have neither the number of mouths to eat up the items purchased on blowout sales nor the storage space to stockpile items that might go bad anyway, Wegmans steadier pricing model makes more sense. Further, with the low prices, decent quality, and wide selection of Wegmans store brand products, I found that I could be equally satisfied and enjoy even lower prices.

Sounds like A&P's pricing as well: you can only afford what's on sale! That may be another reason Wegmans might do well in the NYC area. But you're right–again, Wegmans is "expensive" compared to the typical upstate supermarket of yore, places like Tops or Price Chopper, perhaps. But it's not expensive compared to its new-found competitors like Whole Foods. At least, I assume it isn't; I actually don't shop regularly at Wegmans because I no longer live in their area.

And being a vegetarian, Wegmans had a selection of veggie burgers...

Wegmans is a vegetarian? 

[cl94]

I was just about to say–cl94, I don't know where you're coming from because that's been the opposite of my experience in all of the outer Wegmans service areas I've either lived in or visited: Williamsport, Allentown, suburban Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. They've all been expansive stores with large bakeries, cafés, and amenities to best the biggest competitors in town.

Yeah, that's because he's in the Buffalo area, where most of the stores are still the older-style, average-supermarket type of model. Even in their home turf of Rochester, where the modest stores used to be the norm, they've now largely been upgraded so that they resemble the out-of-state market more than they do the Western NY vibe.

Correct. There are only 3 (Williamsville, North Buffalo, Orchard Park) out of ~10 that come remotely close to the out-of-state ones in size and selection and even those are small in comparison. The west Amherst one, while one of the earlier "larger" ones, is still pretty small compared to their newer locations. They're in the process of slightly enlarging and renovating the East Amherst location, but it'll still be small by Wegmans' standards. The relatively new location in Depew is even an older-style model lacking the fancy stuff everyone knows Wegmans for.

[mrsman]

I work in a grocery store chain based in so CA owned by the Kroger co. (feel free to guess the name) and Kroger is a competitor to Wegman's back east (as we call them in CA). Nice to read how good (or bad) Wegman's are in availability of groceries, their prices and customer service. I can name 5 competitors: Albertsons (they bought Safeway who owns Vons), Stater Bros. based in San Bernardino, Winco which has like 100 stores in the west coast (they have one in my area in Indio), Trader Joe's and Jensen's (exotic or special groceries). And least not forget Wal-mart's Neighborhood Market operations, as well their main stores carry a grocery dept. Competition is what makes America go round and it's nice to be loyal to a store...of your personal choice.

I'll guess Ralph's

I grew up in central Los Angeles near West Hollywood.  In my neighborhood we had several Ralphs supermarkets and very few other competitors, even though there were more stores that served Los Angeles generally.  My mom had to travel all the way to Sepulveda/National for the nearest Vons, if they had a good deal on something.  She shopped there on days when she took me to school while I was in college at UCLA.

I remember Ralphs being at the following locations in my area (approx. 20 years ago):

Sunset/Poinsettia; Fountain/La Brea; 3rd/La Brea; Wilshire/Hauser; Beverly/La Cienega; 3rd/San Vicente; Beverly/Doheny; 3rd/Fairfax; Santa Monica/Fairfax

As I check on google maps, I see that some of these stores have become other brands like Whole Foods.  Competition is a very good thing.

[briantroutman]

And being a vegetarian, Wegmans had a selection of veggie burgers...

Wegmans is a vegetarian? 

That's what happens when you second-guess your prose and make a hasty edit.

[empirestate]

And being a vegetarian, Wegmans had a selection of veggie burgers...

Wegmans is a vegetarian? 

That's what happens when you second-guess your prose and make a hasty edit.

I'm the worst; I can't resist a good grammar quip. :-)

[hbelkins]

I could never be a vegetarian. That means I'd have to give up eating meat. 

[Buffaboy]

Wegmans outside of Western New York is an entirely different animal than it is around here. Here, most Wegmans locations are the size of your typical supermarket, only with worse selection and lacking a butcher shop. There are a couple that look like the stores elsewhere, but many are actually worse than some Tops locations.

Not in Philly.  I think their newer locations are more grandiose than any of the ones I've visited near Buffalo.  They have everything, including a full-service pub.

I was just about to say–cl94, I don't know where you're coming from because that's been the opposite of my experience in all of the outer Wegmans service areas I've either lived in or visited: Williamsport, Allentown, suburban Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. They've all been expansive stores with large bakeries, cafés, and amenities to best the biggest competitors in town.

Perhaps this varies from metro to metro or from one product category to another, but I've never understood this general "Wegmans is expensive"  objection I've encountered from time to time. I can only speak to my personal experience: When I lived in various parts of suburban Philadelphia, my choices were often either Wegmans or Acme.

If you were willing to overlook the fact that most Acme stores were disgusting, run-down holes in the wall, you might do slightly better at Acme on price–but ONLY if you had a shopper club card, bought only the items on sale, and NOTHING else. A box of Cheerios might be on "sale"  for $2 one week, but then the "regular"  price of $6 the next. Woe be unto you if you wanted Cheerios on the wrong week.

That is contrasted with Wegmans model where the same box Cheerios might be $3 every week. Particularly for individuals and small families who have neither the number of mouths to eat up the items purchased on blowout sales nor the storage space to stockpile items that might go bad anyway, Wegmans steadier pricing model makes more sense. Further, with the low prices, decent quality, and wide selection of Wegmans store brand products, I found that I could be equally satisfied and enjoy even lower prices.

And being a vegetarian, Wegmans had a selection of veggie burgers, Tofurkys and the like to match anything any Whole Foods or hippy co-op could offer, often at better prices.

Honestly, Wegmans and rain may be competing for the #1 thing I miss about the East. I hate Safeway beyond words.

I'm saying that many Western New York Wegmans locations aren't anything to write home about. I've been in the more-distant (i.e. New Jersey and SE Pennsylvania) ones and they are pretty big. Much larger than anything you'd find in Buffalo or Rochester. Wegmans is cheap, but the hype I hear from out of town doesn't really apply in the areas where Wegmans has been for 30+ years. To someone who lives in Buffalo, Wegmans is Rochester's version of the standard supermarket because the locations here are small and simple.

Wegmans-mania baffles me because, at least where I've lived, Wegmans is no different than your average supermarket.

I'm going on a limb here to say that checking the Yelp reviews, my neighborhood Wegmans only has like 6 or 7 (McKinley), but if you were to check the ones in like PA, VA, or MA, it's a whole different ball game. These people take pictures of the stores, buffet setups, meat areas, produce dept, etc. Stuff most of us see as boring as looking at paint dry.

On the flipside, Buffalonians will freak out when Whole Foods gets here. When I took my first visit to one in Fairfax County VA it was in a village-y type setting, the perfect place for a WF. I wasn't impressed, likely because I've been used to Wegmans since I was born.

[cl94]

Wegmans outside of Western New York is an entirely different animal than it is around here. Here, most Wegmans locations are the size of your typical supermarket, only with worse selection and lacking a butcher shop. There are a couple that look like the stores elsewhere, but many are actually worse than some Tops locations.

Not in Philly.  I think their newer locations are more grandiose than any of the ones I've visited near Buffalo.  They have everything, including a full-service pub.

I was just about to say–cl94, I don't know where you're coming from because that's been the opposite of my experience in all of the outer Wegmans service areas I've either lived in or visited: Williamsport, Allentown, suburban Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. They've all been expansive stores with large bakeries, cafés, and amenities to best the biggest competitors in town.

Perhaps this varies from metro to metro or from one product category to another, but I've never understood this general "Wegmans is expensive"  objection I've encountered from time to time. I can only speak to my personal experience: When I lived in various parts of suburban Philadelphia, my choices were often either Wegmans or Acme.

If you were willing to overlook the fact that most Acme stores were disgusting, run-down holes in the wall, you might do slightly better at Acme on price–but ONLY if you had a shopper club card, bought only the items on sale, and NOTHING else. A box of Cheerios might be on "sale"  for $2 one week, but then the "regular"  price of $6 the next. Woe be unto you if you wanted Cheerios on the wrong week.

That is contrasted with Wegmans model where the same box Cheerios might be $3 every week. Particularly for individuals and small families who have neither the number of mouths to eat up the items purchased on blowout sales nor the storage space to stockpile items that might go bad anyway, Wegmans steadier pricing model makes more sense. Further, with the low prices, decent quality, and wide selection of Wegmans store brand products, I found that I could be equally satisfied and enjoy even lower prices.

And being a vegetarian, Wegmans had a selection of veggie burgers, Tofurkys and the like to match anything any Whole Foods or hippy co-op could offer, often at better prices.

Honestly, Wegmans and rain may be competing for the #1 thing I miss about the East. I hate Safeway beyond words.

I'm saying that many Western New York Wegmans locations aren't anything to write home about. I've been in the more-distant (i.e. New Jersey and SE Pennsylvania) ones and they are pretty big. Much larger than anything you'd find in Buffalo or Rochester. Wegmans is cheap, but the hype I hear from out of town doesn't really apply in the areas where Wegmans has been for 30+ years. To someone who lives in Buffalo, Wegmans is Rochester's version of the standard supermarket because the locations here are small and simple.

Wegmans-mania baffles me because, at least where I've lived, Wegmans is no different than your average supermarket.

I'm going on a limb here to say that checking the Yelp reviews, my neighborhood Wegmans only has like 6 or 7 (McKinley), but if you were to check the ones in like PA, VA, or MA, it's a whole different ball game. These people take pictures of the stores, buffet setups, meat areas, produce dept, etc. Stuff most of us see as boring as looking at paint dry.

On the flipside, Buffalonians will freak out when Whole Foods gets here. When I took my first visit to one in Fairfax County VA it was in a village-y type setting, the perfect place for a WF. I wasn't impressed, likely because I've been used to Wegmans since I was born.

And the McKinley one is one of the 3 in Buffalo that comes remotely close to the out-of-area ones. Whole Foods might actually force Wegmans to upgrade their Buffalo locations to be like the more-distant ones, especially because the first Whole Foods won't be too far from 2 of the "fancy-ish" Buffalo locations and a couple blocks from the "big and almost fancy-ish" location.

[Rothman]

I'll guess Ralph's

Everything I know about Ralph's I learned from The Big Lebowski.

[Snappyjack]

I work in a grocery store chain based in so CA owned by the Kroger co. (feel free to guess the name) and Kroger is a competitor to Wegman's back east (as we call them in CA). Nice to read how good (or bad) Wegman's are in availability of groceries, their prices and customer service. I can name 5 competitors: Albertsons (they bought Safeway who owns Vons), Stater Bros. based in San Bernardino, Winco which has like 100 stores in the west coast (they have one in my area in Indio), Trader Joe's and Jensen's (exotic or special groceries). And least not forget Wal-mart's Neighborhood Market operations, as well their main stores carry a grocery dept. Competition is what makes America go round and it's nice to be loyal to a store...of your personal choice. 

Wait, where is Wegmans overlapping with all those west coast brands such that they're competitors? Or am I misreading this?

Kroger competes with Wegmans in Maryland and Virginia by way of Harris Teeter, but that's about it. The only other Kroger owned outfit near a Wegmans would be the Turkey Hill gas/convenient stores in PA, hardly a direct threat.