Wegman's & Lidl Coming to DC

Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. No non-grocery posts.
buckguy
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Re: Wegman's & Lidl Coming to DC

Post by buckguy »

After Rockville and Reston open, it looks like they won't have anything new coming on line in the DC area. Given their real estate requirements and their usual demographics they probably will be constrained in where they can add stores. There are existing stores close enough to Annapolis so they might not go there, but there are gaps in NE Montgomery County and the St. Charles/southern PG area. The Tysons and Alexandria stores are new and the one in Gaithersburg is pretty recent, so they also have a lot of expansion to absorb. I stopped at the Tysons store on a Saturday afternoon and it was less busy than I expected---I wonder whether it's been underpromoted as it should do well in that area--the problem may be that it's in the middle of dense new construction and even with apps, etc. it may not seem as handy to some people at might be.

Now that they are literally within walking distance of their competition, it will be interesting to see who is affected most. The DC store is near an old, small Whole Foods (Tenley) that easily could close and within a mile of two Giants--one repeatedly updated (Van Ness) and one that's relatively new (Glover Park). I haven't been to Glover Park, but do go to Van Ness once in awhile---that store is part of a large condo/co-op complex with a built-in clientele and on top of a Metro stop. I could see it surviving Wegman's better than Glover Park. If the Tenley WF closes, it won't be a big blow, they have a recently redone store in Upper Georgetown and a relatively large store in Friendship Heights, although both of them also might be affected by Wegman's.

In Rockville, they'll be less than a mile from a high volume Giant that probably will take a significant hit and little further from a low volume H-T, which I suspect may quietly close. The Safeway across the street is still open but I wouldn't be surprised if it closed---that's the relatively new store where they've been looking for a sublet. Whole Foods is far enough away from the new Rockville store that the impact might be limited--it's a large high volume store, so it probably can absorb some loss of customers.
Last edited by buckguy on July 24th, 2022, 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Wegman's & Lidl Coming to DC

Post by mjhale »

It seems that Ahold is much more willing to compete than Safeway on its own and now Safeway under Albertsons. With multiple Wegmans stores in Northern Virginia we haven't seen multiple store closings from Giant. The only closure without relocation I can think of is the store at Jermantown Road and Route 50. That store was more done in by the little Walmart that opened nearby than Wegmans which is further down Route 29 closer to the Fairfax Government Center. Also there is a Giant in Milestone Center which has survived Wegmans and also Walmart expanding to a Supercenter. I remarked in another thread that I have seen some good ads recently from Giant. It seems like they have been more aggressive on pricing in their sale ads. Safeway on the other hand just seems to be lumbering along not doing much of anything to attract customers to their stores. Safeway pricing is off the charts too. Certainly Giant will take a hit when Wegmans opens nearby. However not everyone likes the Disneyland, always busy environment in Wegmans.
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Re: Wegman's & Lidl Coming to DC

Post by buckguy »

Giant seems far more competitive than Safeway right now in terms of specials, online coupons and shelf pricing. The things where I've seen prices jump and stay high are items where manufacturer's deals on promotions probably were very important, like Stouffer and other brands of frozen entrees.
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Re: Wegman's & Lidl Coming to DC

Post by storewanderer »

buckguy wrote: July 24th, 2022, 11:10 am Giant seems far more competitive than Safeway right now in terms of specials, online coupons and shelf pricing. The things where I've seen prices jump and stay high are items where manufacturer's deals on promotions probably were very important, like Stouffer and other brands of frozen entrees.
Some chains are trying to be competitive, and others are hiding behind the "inflation" excuses to increase prices to absolutely crazy levels. Some chains seem to sort of be trying to just stay in the middle.

Safeway is one of those chains that has decided to hide behind the "inflation" excuse to increase prices to absolutely crazy levels. Yes, inflation is crazy. But not so crazy that a 12pk of Coke should have a regular retail of 8.99, not so crazy that a can of Progresso Soup should have a retail of 5.49, etc. in Reno, Nevada. I guess if enough people are willing to pay those prices, why not charge them?
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