Wegmans announces next 10 locales.
March south of NC has been delayed. They are buidling many new stores in the Triangle though
https://www.syracuse.com/business/2020/1...nsion.html
By Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com
Wegmans, the supermarket chain with a huge presence in Upstate New York, will open its 104th store next month as it continues its expansion down the East Coast.
Wegmans is scheduled to open its newest store Nov. 4 in Tysons, Virginia. But it’s not finished building new ones by a long shot.
The Rochester-based chain has identified these locations where it plans to open stores over the next few years:
Delaware
Greenville – just outside the City of Wilmington at the intersection of Lancaster Pike and Barley Mill Road in New Castle County
Maryland
Rockville – Rockville Pike and Halpine Road in Montgomery County
North Carolina
Cary – Cary Towne Boulevard and Interstate 40 in Wake County
Chapel Hill – US Interstate 40 and Highway 15-501 in Orange County
Holly Springs – North Carolina Highway 55 and Ralph Stephens Road in Wake County
Wake Forest – Route 98 bypass, just east of Capital Blvd. in Wake County
Virginia
Alexandria (Carlyle) – Eisenhower Ave. exit off Interstate 495 in Fairfax County
Reston – Dulles Toll Road (VA Route 267) and Reston Parkway in Fairfax County
Washington D.C.
Wisconsin Avenue – Wisconsin Avenue and Rodman Street
“You’ll see from our list of future projects that our new store growth is concentrated in the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, though we will continue to upgrade or replace older stores in our more mature markets, like New York,” the company says on its website.
But the locations listed above are not the only places where Wegmans plans to open new stores.
“There are other sites we are working on but are not at liberty to disclose as yet,” the company says.
Wegmans has not set dates for the future store openings, except for the Tysons store. It typically opens two or three a year.
Evelyn Ingram, a spokesperson for Wegmans, said the company’s real estate team looks for “great regional locations that are easy to find and easy to access” when deciding where to build new stores.
Wegmans also takes the size of a potential site into consideration, as its stores, typically between 80,000 and 120,000 square feet, are large, she said.
“Potential sites must be big enough to accommodate the size of the store and adequate parking, around 15 to 20 acres," Ingram said. "We usually look for markets with a growing population and demographics that would support our larger store format.”
In 2019, more than 7,500 people contacted Wegmans asking for a store in their community, according to the company.
“Each year, thousands of people who have visited our store for the first time, or moved to a place without Wegmans, write asking that we build a store in their town,” the company said. “Since we open just two or three new stores each year, it would be impossible to oblige every request.”
Wegmans store openings often draw large crowds. Thousands showed up in the rain, some as early as midnight, for the 7 a.m. opening of a Wegmans store in Brooklyn in October last year.
Its newest stores are designed to look like European open-air markets and feature large displays of fresh produce, artisan breads, meats, seafood, imported cheeses, prepared foods and international foods.
The 80,000 square-foot store in Tysons, for example, will include a café with indoor and outdoor seating and The Burger Bar, a casual restaurant counter that serves burgers, fresh salads, sandwiches, specialty milkshakes, soups and sides.
The store is part of Capital One Center, the public-facing portion of Capital One’s global headquarters. It will employ 150 people.
Wegmans facts:
Wegmans stores, the largest of which is more than 150,000 square feet, are larger than most supermarkets and carry 50,000 to 70,000 products. The average size of grocery stores in the U.S. is 41,651 square feet, according to The Food Industry Association.
John Wegman opened the Rochester Fruit & Vegetable Co. in Rochester in 1916, marking the beginning of Wegmans Food Markets. He was joined by his brother Walter a year later.
Wegmans has grown into one of the largest private companies in the U.S. It employs 50,000 people across seven states and had $9.7 billion in revenues in 2019.
The chain has made Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For every year since the magazine began the list in 1998 and was ranked No. 1 in 2005.
New York has the most Wegmans, with 48, including eight in the Syracuse area. Wegmans opened its latest New York store in Harrison in Westchester County on Aug. 5.
The Tysons store will be the 13th Wegmans in Virginia. The company opened a store in July in West Cary, North Carolina, its second in that state. There are 18 Wegmans in Pennsylvania, 9 in New Jersey, 8 in Maryland and 6 in Massachusetts.
The biggest Wegmans? The most massive store in 4 Upstate NY regions, 5 other states
Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148