Crazy about retail.
http://www.retailwatchers.com/
Delicious!!!cathandler wrote: ↑March 1st, 2022, 8:16 pm They're coming to Norwalk
https://www.ctinsider.com/business/arti ... 968664.php
If Wegmans could build somewhere near the West Hartford/Hartford line, it would be an instant hit. Hartford is a food desert as it is and the West End is its "well off" area plus for a suburb of its wealth West Hartford is lacking on the grocery side: Two mediocre Stop & Shop's, a decent Whole Foods, and an ex-Waldbaums Big Y that has seen far better days.buckguy wrote: ↑March 3rd, 2022, 5:36 am Looking at their distribution of stores, I'm surprised they didn't open in CT earlier. The Hartford area would have made sense. I was there last fall but didn't have time to check-out Stew Leonard's which seems to have a broader appeal than Wegman's--they're on the Berlin Turnpike which has had large format stores, as well as light industrial for decades (early discount stores were there and proto-Home Depot chains like Grossman's). People complain about going to Berlin Turnpike but it's always been a regional draw. Wegman's probably would want the more upscale Northwest corridor of suburbs where finding suitable land might be a problem (hilly topography, already quite dense retail centers).
The problem would be finding sufficient land. The former Lord & Taylor in Bishops Corner would be the only potential close-in retail site big enough and its been successfully converted to other uses. The Avon/Simsbury area further out probably wouldn't be enough of a draw. The potential close-in redevelopment areas would be around West Hartford's Elmwood area and SW Hartford, which would be too downscale for them---Berlin Turnpike would make more sense for a store S of Hartford.jdb820 wrote: ↑March 31st, 2022, 4:56 pmIf Wegmans could build somewhere near the West Hartford/Hartford line, it would be an instant hit. Hartford is a food desert as it is and the West End is its "well off" area plus for a suburb of its wealth West Hartford is lacking on the grocery side: Two mediocre Stop & Shop's, a decent Whole Foods, and an ex-Waldbaums Big Y that has seen far better days.buckguy wrote: ↑March 3rd, 2022, 5:36 am Looking at their distribution of stores, I'm surprised they didn't open in CT earlier. The Hartford area would have made sense. I was there last fall but didn't have time to check-out Stew Leonard's which seems to have a broader appeal than Wegman's--they're on the Berlin Turnpike which has had large format stores, as well as light industrial for decades (early discount stores were there and proto-Home Depot chains like Grossman's). People complain about going to Berlin Turnpike but it's always been a regional draw. Wegman's probably would want the more upscale Northwest corridor of suburbs where finding suitable land might be a problem (hilly topography, already quite dense retail centers).