Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by storewanderer »

mbz321 wrote: March 31st, 2022, 7:57 pm

Along with that, with inflation rising, people are looking to curb their spending. While Wegmans has very good everyday dry grocery (and key basic perishable item) prices (prices that rival even Walmart and Aldi comparing store-branded items), their money is obviously comes from their higher end products and convenience foods, which have gone up and up over the years. I haven't been in a Wegmans in probably a year, but the prepared foods, especially from the self-serve food bars, were pretty astronomical. And yes, being a 'Disneyland' type store makes it harder for those to make it their 'everyday' grocery store unless they happen to live right around the corner (a lot of Wegmans stores seem to be built near housing within walking distance, but what about every else that passes other grocery options where they can grab the basics and get in and out quickly?).
Wegman's may in their effort to fit into more urban areas and cutting prototypes as a result, may be doing something that is impacting their image. I have heard of some locations opening without custom sandwiches, for instance. Yet this is a chain that is known for its custom sandwiches. How hard is it to have a custom sandwich program (Publix and Safeway do it... Kroger doesn't seem to like to though) especially in a store where you are huge on prepared foods.

So this temptation to water down stores even in less dense areas and turn the stores into less of a destination may not be working out so well, especially in NC given the competition there is something to take seriously.

Wegman's is tough to get in and out of from the parking lot to the layout of the store. Tons of employees so there are never lines for any kind of service but somehow the place still feels like it takes a while to get through. It seems like it shouldn't be as difficult as it is... but they are an overwhelming place to visit. But that overwhelming factor is why you are there in the first place. Take it away, and you may as well just go to the most convenient store (and Wegman's probably isn't going to be it in NC).
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by jdb820 »

storewanderer wrote: April 1st, 2022, 12:18 am Wegman's may in their effort to fit into more urban areas and cutting prototypes as a result, may be doing something that is impacting their image. I have heard of some locations opening without custom sandwiches, for instance. Yet this is a chain that is known for its custom sandwiches. How hard is it to have a custom sandwich program (Publix and Safeway do it... Kroger doesn't seem to like to though) especially in a store where you are huge on prepared foods.
To be somewhat fair, the location that opened without a sandwich shop of any sort was Brooklyn, a smaller sized prototype. And they reversed course to a degree thanks to the backlash that they got for it, especially when things such as putting in a full bar became an issue because of COVID.

They had similar brushback with their first prototype, Chestnut Hill, because one of the things cut for size was the storage area for the sub rolls. While pivoting to in-store baked ciabatta, the price points they had were pricey even by 2014 standards ($8/$14 an 7"/14" respectively).
Wegman's is tough to get in and out of from the parking lot to the layout of the store. Tons of employees so there are never lines for any kind of service but somehow the place still feels like it takes a while to get through. It seems like it shouldn't be as difficult as it is... but they are an overwhelming place to visit. But that overwhelming factor is why you are there in the first place. Take it away, and you may as well just go to the most convenient store (and Wegman's probably isn't going to be it in NC).
I live walking distance form a NC Wegmans - a decision done by design as I was relocating for other reasons but backed out of staying with the company - and I rarely go anymore outside of emergencies and some very specific store brand products. As a person who was a big enough of a Wegmaniac to have given years of their career to the company, that says a ton.
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by veteran+ »

I would beg for a Wegmans in my area and can only dream for a Disneyland type of Grocer.

:(
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by Romr123 »

During COVID we took a couple driving trips along the Southern Tier of NY. Stopped at the Wegmans in Corning and Auburn (i.e. likely smallest cities they're in). Both stores felt very appropriate for the town (particularly Auburn which is in a nice brownfield downtown setting), being the nicest store in 50 miles, and yet very "daily shoppable". I'd equate them to, maybe, a Dierberg's or Hy-Vee. Earlier we'd been to the store in Erie--same thing.

I'd estimate they're about 75k sqft. Much bigger than that, though, and in a denser automotive environment you lose the "daily shoppability" factor with plausible alternatives (as mentioned, Harris Teeter/Lowes Foods) closer by and more convenient.

Don't know their distribution patterns, but wonder if having their gentleman's agreement with Giant Eagle to not encroach on Pittsburgh led them to de-emphasize Cleveland/Columbus/Toledo/Charleston WV? If I were Heinen's in Cleveland, I'd be rawther scared, TBH.

An interesting thought-process---what if Wegman's and Meijer collaborated to "blitz" Pittsburgh with 3-4 Meijer and 2-3 Wegmans...that would shake things up!
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by buckguy »

jdb820 wrote: April 1st, 2022, 4:45 am
storewanderer wrote: April 1st, 2022, 12:18 am Wegman's may in their effort to fit into more urban areas and cutting prototypes as a result, may be doing something that is impacting their image. I have heard of some locations opening without custom sandwiches, for instance. Yet this is a chain that is known for its custom sandwiches. How hard is it to have a custom sandwich program (Publix and Safeway do it... Kroger doesn't seem to like to though) especially in a store where you are huge on prepared foods.
To be somewhat fair, the location that opened without a sandwich shop of any sort was Brooklyn, a smaller sized prototype. And they reversed course to a degree thanks to the backlash that they got for it, especially when things such as putting in a full bar became an issue because of COVID.

They had similar brushback with their first prototype, Chestnut Hill, because one of the things cut for size was the storage area for the sub rolls. While pivoting to in-store baked ciabatta, the price points they had were pricey even by 2014 standards ($8/$14 an 7"/14" respectively).
Wegman's is tough to get in and out of from the parking lot to the layout of the store. Tons of employees so there are never lines for any kind of service but somehow the place still feels like it takes a while to get through. It seems like it shouldn't be as difficult as it is... but they are an overwhelming place to visit. But that overwhelming factor is why you are there in the first place. Take it away, and you may as well just go to the most convenient store (and Wegman's probably isn't going to be it in NC).
I live walking distance form a NC Wegmans - a decision done by design as I was relocating for other reasons but backed out of staying with the company - and I rarely go anymore outside of emergencies and some very specific store brand products. As a person who was a big enough of a Wegmaniac to have given years of their career to the company, that says a ton.
Would be curious what made you fall out of love with them, particularly given what their competition often looks like. It's good to know that they can respond to what customers want.

Like Romr123, I've taken some trips through Upstate NYS and also seen some of their stores in PA and NJ. They already know how to scale what they offer to very different sizes and communities--the Corning store was probably less than 75K sf. Binghamton--a much bigger town was a bigger store, but not as big what I saw in Rochester which matches the biggest stores I've seen in the DC area. One of the newest DC area stores, in Gaithersburg/Germantown, MD is probably the largest I've seen and they could easily shrink it. The seating area seemed greatly oversized, even pre-COVID. It seems set-up for groups to meet that just didn't materialize. I've never experienced the layouts or parking as especially awkward. The Gaithersburg store is an awkwardly set-up "lifestyle"-type center that's one of several power center/lifestyle set-ups that are almost next to each other, with Wegman's in the last of them to be built and stuck with a cramped, confusing street system.

I could see Wegman's having a handshake agreement with Heinen's, but Giant Eagle just seems too pathetic.
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by Greggo »

Where does this notion that Wegmans has an agreement with Giant Eagle to avoid Pittsburgh come from? Is it just an oft-repeated rumor? Because if true it would appear to violate antitrust laws.
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by storewanderer »

Greggo wrote: April 4th, 2022, 4:53 pm Where does this notion that Wegmans has an agreement with Giant Eagle to avoid Pittsburgh come from? Is it just an oft-repeated rumor? Because if true it would appear to violate antitrust laws.
Not saying such an agreement exists or not between any specific businesses mentioned in this post, but there are urban myths out there that such agreements (gentlemen's agreements/handshake type agreements) do exist among certain regional businesses.
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Greggo wrote: April 4th, 2022, 4:53 pm Where does this notion that Wegmans has an agreement with Giant Eagle to avoid Pittsburgh come from? Is it just an oft-repeated rumor? Because if true it would appear to violate antitrust laws.
That has been an "urban legend" in the Capital District area of NYS for many years. Word is that there is some sort of gentleman's agreement between Wegman's and Golub Corp. (Price Chopper/Market 32 and the elephant in the room around here) that each stay out of the other's home turf. They each have stores in the Syracuse area but that's about it although you could now say that is no longer the case since Golub's purchase of Tops and they have stores in the Rochester area which of course is home to Wegman's. There has to be at least a grain of truth to this one because the suburbs around Albany are rather affluent and are perfect for the kind of operation Wegman's runs.
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Re: Wegmans Woes in North Carolina

Post by storewanderer »

I used to hear the same as to why Tulsa-based Quik Trip did not do business in Oklahoma City. They had an informal agreement with that independent Oklahoma 7-Eleven group to not compete. Conversely that independent Oklahoma 7-Eleven group did not do business in Tulsa.

Then the Oklahoma 7-Eleven group sold to the national 7-Eleven group in early 2020 and in late 2021 the Tulsa-based Quik Trip announced its first Oklahoma City location site....

Might be a coincidence but I doubt it.

This news article also says some of how these sorts of things could come about:
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/20 ... 983125002/
"Over the years the reason for QuikTrip's absence from the city has been attributed to a saturated convenience store market and what some believe to be a longstanding agreement between Bill Brown, former owner of Oklahoma City 7-Eleven locations, and QuikTrip co-founder Chester Cadieux.

While there is no evidence of an official agreement, or that of a "gentlemen's agreement," in 2019 former QuikTrip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh chalked up the decision to stay away from Oklahoma City as "old school respect."

In a 2014 story in the Tulsa World, Cadieux said Brown gave him business advice and helped him during the early stages of QuikTrip's existence.

“If it wasn't for Brown, we wouldn't be in business,” Cadieux said. “As long as Brown's family owns those stores, it would be unconscionable to open there.”"
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