What's all the fuss about Wegmans?

500

A Wegmans is opening up near me this weekend. People are gonna mob the place and talk about how great it is. I've never been to one so tell why it's so great?  I'm happy with Kroger and Sam's Club. Is the meat any better?  Are the prices more or less than Kroger?  

shtgunal3

Never saw one. Paging @hapster

Carolina Q

I haven't seen a Kroger store in maybe 40-50 years so I don't know. I joined Sam's once because some guy I worked with said they had great steaks. I thought they sucked so I haven't been back. LOVE Wegman's though!!

Unfortunately, I only go there when I visit Mom. She has one, I do not. They have a much better meat selection than any other store I've seen. Same with fish. A large wine shop too. And the produce is awesome!

Best of all, their pork butt is $1.49 a pound every day! It's twice that around here!

All that said, I would NOT go there on opening day! I would not go ANYWHERE on opening day.

500

Funny you mention the cost of Butts at Wegmans. I saw that same price online for them. I think I'll get two butts from them for a LnS I'm planning for a party we are hosting two weeks from now. I priced the cost at Wegmans vs. a local real butcher in town. She gets hormone free heritege breed pork and breaks it down. Her cost is $4.99 a pound. Big difference in price. Not sure how fbi wanna make that kind of a jump for Butts. 

Eggcelsior

Wegmans blows every other grocery store I've ever been to away. Give it 2 to 3 weeks to go in, unless you can stop in at 2 pm on a Tuesday or something.

They have a meat counter where they will custom cut whatever you want for steaks. They have a DA cooler so I can get DA strip or ribeye whenever I want(as long as you don't mind splurging for 28/lb). Mine does local beef too, from a farm near Winchester, VA. 

HeavyG

Wegmans is the best grocery store chain in the US - http://fortune.com/2016/04/14/best-grocery-store/

Wish we had one locally. It appears they are finally moving into my part of the country later this year. Fingers crossed that it happens then I'll be able to visit more often than just when I go visit my daughter four hours away in northern Virginia.

dmchicago

I have Central Market, which is great.

I dream of Wegman's.

Sea2Ski

I have daily access to 3 of them. They are everything @500 and @Eggcelsior said.  Anything you want, you can get there. But that is a blessing and a curse. You can get what you want, but you also have to wade through everyone else that is there to get what they want.
I only go to one if it is before 8 (7 on weekends) or after 9 PM.
Also, one has a killer selection of beer and one has a great eat in cafe. Each one is a bit different.

caliking

dmchicago said:

I have Central Market, which is great.

I dream of Wegman's.

+1. I'm waiting for one to open in the Houston area.

Firemanyz

I was at a wegmans today while my wife was at a doctors appt. Pork butts were $1.39 lb. You have to make informed purchases and know the cost of stuff. Overall though there are great deals there: today's list included 12 packs of canned veggies for $5.49 and 2# package of provolone cheese for $5.99. Also grabbed other stuff as they have a large gluten free section. 

These were a purchase a few months ago. My daughter keeps asking for then"good steak".  Always keep you eyes open for the little orange stickers that saw "sell by today" or "reduced for quick sale". 

hapster

They've pretty much said it all... Wegmans is simply the best

YukonRon

hapster said:

They've pretty much said it all... Wegmans is simply the best

One thing I have learned on here; @hapster speaks, I pay close attention.

500

The Kroger I go to is going through a major renovation and expansion; because they seem to fear Wegmans coming. They will have a beer and wine bar. I'll be able to go to Kroger and get drunk. But that's a bad choice. I'd have to Uber home. Don't Drink and Drive. 

Acn

I agree with everything said above.  It is head and shoulders above any other grocery store I've been in.  Their produce is better than any store with the possible exception of Whole Foods, and their prices are much better than WF.  Their house brands are great (their lump is RO, and for me cheaper and better than what I've gotten from Home Depot), their meat/fish/bakery/deli/prepared foods counters are all extremely good.  They've got a great wine & beer selection as well (and in VA it'll actually be integrated, unlike MD where it is an 'independent' stand alone store that has the same signage and point of sale software).`

They are opening one 10 minutes away from me in September, and I can't wait.  Currently I drive 25 minutes or so to do the majority of my shopping there.

Another article on why the store is so great:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/13/why-wegmans-really-is-the-best-supermarket-in-the-u-s/
One note from it - the average supermarket turns its produce inventory over 18-20 times per year.  Wegmans turns it over as many as 100 times.  So nothing is sitting out that long.

Foghorn

My sister took me to a Wegman's last week.  She drove by 6 other grocery stores to get there.   It was great.  The HEB near my house is 90-95% as good (my HEB has a better beer selection, about the same number of wines, not as much prepared food).  But I have a question related to the following comment:

"One note from it - the average supermarket turns its produce inventory over 18-20 times per year.  Wegmans turns it over as many as 100 times.  So nothing is sitting out that long."

Like many on here, I have tried to preferentially support smaller, local establishments vs big chains.  However, in many ways economies of scale can actually produce better results - like better produce and the low pork butt prices mentioned above.

Is big really bad?
(Good thing it is Friday)

Acn

Foghorn said:

My sister took me to a Wegman's last week.  She drove by 6 other grocery stores to get there.   It was great.  The HEB near my house is 90-95% as good (my HEB has a better beer selection, about the same number of wines, not as much prepared food).  But I have a question related to the following comment:

"One note from it - the average supermarket turns its produce inventory over 18-20 times per year.  Wegmans turns it over as many as 100 times.  So nothing is sitting out that long."

Like many on here, I have tried to preferentially support smaller, local establishments vs big chains.  However, in many ways economies of scale can actually produce better results - like better produce and the low pork butt prices mentioned above.

Is big really bad?
(Good thing it is Friday)

I don't think big is inherently bad, and as noted can produce quality at prices that a small retailer can't manage.  But I'm not sure that debating this with regards to grocery stores is really a fair discussion.  Does anyone have a small, local, grocery store?  Look at the others mentioned in this thread - HEB, Kroger, Sams - Wegmans is easily the smallest out of those 4, with 88 stores, compared to 370 HEB, 650 Sams, and 2700+ Krogers.


I also think you have to evaluate each company independently.  Not all small is good, and not all big is bad.  Wegmans has been on Fortune's Best Companies to Work For list since 1998, most recently landing as #4.  I know plenty of people who work for small businesses who hate their boss, or are really worried about getting sick, or having a kid get sick, because they could get fired for calling out. 

Sea2Ski

The only reason I go to Wegmans was because my local smaller (but still full size) grocery store closed up. That one was 3 miles away, and the close Wegmans is 4.   I supported the smaller guy 100% and hated to go to Wegmans just because of the people (other shoppers - staff is fine), and you do have to know your prices really well. Comparing only to my local smaller place, Wegmans was cheap for a few items like the pork butt, but cost significantly more for other "daily" items. I only went there I needed something that I could not get at the "small" store. Things like a special cheese, something from their ethnic isles, or a special type of produce. But that was few and far between for me and only for few items.

Unlike the smaller place, I can not get imported Finlandia swiss cheese there (the best for "[meat] and swiss" sammys and traditional swiss cheese fondue), and the butcher who hand sliced the bottom round roast for me for the best center portion and to the size I wanted for both volume and fit on my slicer is gone. The local place would special order me pork casings - a bucket for 100 - 125 lbs of sausage - $15.  Now I have to get a pint container for $6 which is enough for 12-15 lbs. If I wanted anything, the small place would order it for me. Wegmans? Forget it.

I think in the 10 or so years that the close one was by me, I was at Wegmans maybe 20 times. Now it is my only choice and I hate going there because there is nowhere else to go unless I go 3 about times as far to "Giant" that I do not like.
Sure, the smaller place was dated, and they opened "late" (7:00 AM,) and closed early (10pm - 9pm on Sundays), but I could go there at any time and breeze through. Now I only can stand shopping early in the morning at the big W because of all the people, and regardless what they say, it costs more for me to shop there now that they ran out the local competition.
For all the niceties, I would rather have my smaller place back in a heartbeat, and if Wegmans closed, I would not miss it.

But I know they are not going anywhere.....

stompbox

100% agree with others above.  Wegmas rules all.

Funny others have noted the pork butts are so cheap there year round.  That is my go to place.  I looked at them this week at my bulk discount location that I am a paying member of and they are $1.99 a pound there and they are $1.39 at Wegmans.... Why do I pay for a membership again? 

Their pizza and subs are great for low-cost quick dinners. 

Zippylip

They're all over the place here.  Overblown hype, I don't waste my time going in there to deal with the mob of idiots that are convinced it's the second coming.  Kinda the same happy horsesh!t that catapulted Trader Joe's into the stratosphere, another one I can't figure out.

They have a different layout than most supermarkets, a different feel, & somehow that's translated into it being better than the rest.  Give me a Giant any day of the week.

Darby_Crenshaw

Zippylip said:

They're all over the place here.  Overblown hype, I don't waste my time going in there to deal with the mob of idiots that are convinced it's the second coming.  Kinda the same happy horsesh!t that catapulted Trader Joe's into the stratosphere, another one I can't figure out.

They have a different layout than most supermarkets, a different feel, & somehow that's translated into it being better than the rest.  Give me a Giant any day of the week.

Such a hurtful angry little man. You sound like steven on a good day

i knew i liked you for a reason

that said. Wegman's near us has some great stuff if you keep your eyes peeled. But like Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods), you can sometimes detect a little hype and overblown expense. 

Can't get out of either store for under a hundred bucks a bag. But sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes 

Zippylip

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Zippylip said:

They're all over the place here.  Overblown hype, I don't waste my time going in there to deal with the mob of idiots that are convinced it's the second coming.  Kinda the same happy horsesh!t that catapulted Trader Joe's into the stratosphere, another one I can't figure out.

They have a different layout than most supermarkets, a different feel, & somehow that's translated into it being better than the rest.  Give me a Giant any day of the week.

Such a hurtful angry little man. You sound like steven on a good day

i knew i liked you for a reason

that said. Wegman's near us has some great stuff if you keep your eyes peeled. But like Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods), you can sometimes detect a little hype and overblown expense. 

Can't get out of either store for under a hundred bucks a bag. But sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes 

angry hurtfulness somehow = happiness, at least in/around Philly anyway.  And don't get me wrong the store has some great stuff but so do the others around here, the layout doesn't really seem like you're in a more traditional supermarket but you are with a different pattern.  Give or take the products are about the same.  More power to'em, they have a great following

Darby_Crenshaw

I worked at a place thirty years ago that developed the paradigm of the whole foods, wegman's, farmer's market kinda thing. Exotic cheeses, produce, wine and beer, flowers. Was a family run thing that really broke the mold. 

Mom and pop retired, and within a couple years the younger kids ended yp declating bankruptcy or selling under duress (debt). 

"In 1984 Kealey Farms opened a “supermarket mall” in Nashua—a $5 million project that was ahead of its time. The 80,000-square-foot store was a combination of a warehouse and specialty and gourmet food shops. The market, which also included a greenhouse and garden shop, boasted an array of produce, strawberries dipped in chocolate, imported coffee beans, a fresh fish department and a wide selection of gourmet cheeses, as well as hot entrées. New Hampshire Savings Bank of Concord operated a branch inside the store. Outside, it grew its own tomatoes, strawberries and corn. And it was open 24 hours a day."

they had plantains and kiwi fruit and frigging imported cheeses, meats, etc in the '70s. Was actually a really great store. Too bad they pooched it

Zippylip

Everything is now a super-mega market with all the different departments, that seems to be the trend.  It's funny, the old school supermarkets from the 70's into the 80's & so on were not a whole helluva lot bigger than your new age CVS or other modern pharmacy.

Remember when pharmacies used to be about the size of a parking space with one dude back there?  & there was about 1 in each town?  Now they're 50 times bigger with 6 people behind the drug counter & there's one on every corner.

And they're all f'n busy.

Are we really that much sicker?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

"Are we really that much sicker?"

as the TV blasts "Ask your doctor about _______today"!

MurrayG

I live in the heart of Wegman's country in Syracuse.  I do think they are by far superior to any other supermarket chain.  One of the big differences is the employees.  They are always ready to help.  They have a very wide selection of products and the prices of their family pack meats are always good.  Cheese selections are outstanding. 

At the same time, you need to know prices.  Last week Price-Rite was selling Tyson whole fryers at 49 cents per pound.  I have a large freezer so I stocked up. 

500

I went to Q Barbeque (Tuffy Stone) to pick up some ribs and pulled pork the other day. Q is right across the street from the new Wegmans opening Sunday. I saw Burnt Ends on the menu and asked for them. They said they were sold out because Wegmans send all 3 shifts of their employees over for lunch that day and they crushed the burnt ends. It does say something about an employer that will buy a $10 lunch for all their employees. 

MJG

Wegman's has the cheapest price for 1/2 gallons if Tito's that I have found. They also have a great beer and wine selection. In addition to what others have said the place rocks. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Wegman's has the cheapest price for 1/2 gallons if Tito's that I have found. 

Darby_Crenshaw

Incorrect meme usage requires public spanking

jdsmithii

like @MurrayG, I now live in Syracuse, which is prime Wegmans land.  I can't really add anything new to this, save for one thing.

Wegmans brand.

I grew up loathing the store brand of food because to me, it equated lesser quality.  Ever since I moved to Syracuse, and the 8 stores in the area, I have learned that Wegmans makes a store brand that rivals 99% of name brands.  I don't like their "Oreos," "Coca Cola," or the "Hidden Valley Ranch."  

Oh, and some Wegmans have started opening bars inside.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Incorrect meme usage requires public spanking