mikec5426

Being a Rochester native I have grown up with many of the Wegmans stores in Rochester, NY along with the 'flagship' Pittsford store. When we entered the store shortly after 7am I was very disappointed! This store reminded me for Pittsford!! The wall of paper products on the far right of the store was my first hint of what was in store and a deja vu experience continued throughout the store. I was wondering am I in Pittsford or Fairfax? I understand that Wegmans was working with a much smaller piece of land then in Loudoun county. However, while the outside was beautiful the inside did not blow me away like the Dulles store. I don't know if anyone else noticed but the Fairfax store looked 'unfinished' to me. I am surprised that Wegmans let this store open as it was. The upstairs Men's bathroom was awful- the floor tile was about an inch away from the wall with a gap, the wood molding was not flush and looked unfinished and honestly looked like they had another couple weeks of work to complete. Then overlooking the register area wires are exposed EVERYWHERE!! The wine shop was very BLAH to me and didn't give me that feeling of an upscale wine shop like Dulles. It reminded me of a Total wine shop. Overall, it is a wonderful store and if I lived closer I would shop there. No matter what they still slam all of the local competition. However, I will continue shopping at my Dulles store until the Leesburg store opens!!! And yes I have overheard and confirmed that the Fairfax store will be converting the upstairs to a restaurant (i.e. all of the doors which will close into private dining rooms). Please check the store out though. It is always an experience at Wegmans. However, I think mgmt. needs to have the contractors come back and finish the store to 'perfection' and hopefully find a way to better display the monstrosity of paper products! Mike Leesburg, VA

Northern VA (Dulles) may be the "boonies" to some but everytime something good happens in Loudoun County then we are considered the Metro DC area. It is not that people were not shopping in that Midnight to 1am timeframe it was due to the lack of time needed to restock all of the shelves and departments and provide and efficient clean up before re-opening at 6am. Mike Leesburg, VA "Proud to be a resident of the now #1 fastest growing county in the US"

I was back at the store for lunch today. My office is only one intersection away and therefore great for lunch visits!! The store was immaculate but was just as busy as yesterday! It took us 20 minutes to get back to Route 28. The parking lot in and out of the store was jam packed. I am NOT complaining just reporting! :-) FLORAL- Floral selection is extremely better then any other stores. They can also provide custom orders as well. I don't think you will find any wilted flowers here. The prices are extremely competitive and that is year round. Dinosaur BBQ sauce was fully stocked today as well as the Zweigels White Hots which were sold out by late morning. I guess they must have had an overnight shipment because yesterday they said all of the product including what was in back was already put out. I heard well over 11,000 people in attendance and the store numbers looked very promising. I am sure it may very well be Wegmans stores best week ever. As for lunch we all tried different items- pizza, sub, fresh to order caesar salad, wokery and made to order pasta. We all shared some and everyone was very happy. Tonight I am making there Chicken Cordon Bleu I bought in the meat section (only $5.99 already prepared and they shrink wrap with cooking directions). The pan it comes in you can cook it in as well! I also bought two bottles of Ice Wine and look forward to that this weekend. Mike Leesburg, VA

I arrived around 8am as well and left about noon!! Luckily I had some 'insider' information on some of the times things would be handed out. They indeed started sampling Herme chocolate I believe around 11am. There were tons of samples througout the morning and late morning. Bags of veggie chips, Wegmans cookies, chocolate covered soy nuts, pineapple and an incredible fruit I have never tried until today called Uniq fruit which she said was a combination of grapefruit and tangerine. I was in the first group to sample the Dom Perignon and share the first toast with the Moët et Chandon representative that was there to discuss their line as well as Mr. Danny Wegman who looked on. I also purchased two boxes which included a 1995 bottle and two crystal flutes for $95 each which is priced for Grand Opening Day only. One is a wedding gift and one of course is for me. :-) The Vineyard section which has the more pricey wines (up to $1,800 per bottle) had an incredible selection including a Chateau Margeaux and Ice wine (from Canada) at $40-$65 per bottle. DOCTORO- haha yes there were ACTUALLY Wegmans "groupies" there!!! I heard them being interviewed and photographed by WTOP and I believe the Washington Post. They all had red sweaters and stitched on a big black "W" on there sweaters. Apparently they go to all of the openings. Police were directing traffic by noon and Route 28 was jam packed with traffic. The parking lots at the Ashburn Food Lion and Giant were a grave yard on my drive back to Leesburg. People were parked in all lots including CarMax, Burger King, the Nissan dealership and all along the roads. I bought some bakery items, a bagel (which was water boiled), muffin and a sub sandwich in addition to the champagne. I will do full grocery shopping later in the week in the late evening *hopefully to avoid the crowds*. Overall, I am VERY impressed. I overhead a lot of conversations including a group of Giant employees. And everyone seemed to be in agreement that this was the new place to shop. As for the Giant employees they joked and called themselves "traitors" and wanted some applications! Good luck to everyone going this week and enjoy the store. Even if you live far away its a nice weekend day trip for lunch and grocery shopping. Mike Leesburg, VA

I just left my tour of the new Wegmans store. Being a Rochester native and former Wegmans employee I have seen many, many stores. The Dulles store is absolutely AMAZING!!!! From Corian counters at the express check outs, the wine selection is the best in the DC area and the incredible layout!!!! The prices on everything were very competitive and their grocery area puts Giant, Safeway to SHAME! You can easily save 20% on your regular grocery shopping at Wegmans. See everyone Sunday!! Mike Leesburg, VA

LESS THEN TWO WEEKS UNTIL WEGMANS OPENS!!!!!!!!!!!! I am thrilled to say the very least! I drove by the store last night and most of the shelves look stocked. I saw signs throughout the store put up for the Sub shop, Bakery, Chef's Creations and Wokery. Soon I will have a pre Grand Opening tour but most important I can't wait until opening day to begin shopping! See everyone at the checkout lines! :-)

The drive through is indeed for the Pharmacy! I actually walked up to the inside of the VA store today and the inside looks great! The pharmacy looks near completion, the checkouts and lights are installed and painted wall murals appear to be complete. I really enjoy Meh23's website updates! I have some family that is still very actively involved with Wegmans and one will be assisting with the VA store opening. I also used to work for Wegmans for a few years and moved to the Northern VA area almost five years ago. I work in Sterling and I know that once the store opens ALL of my grocery shopping will be done at Wegmans. For those who have not been to a store it is hard to express how drastically different the shopping experience is vs. the local competition. For a moment put aside all of the state of the art ovens, world renowned pastry/chocolate shop, incredible selections of produce, seafood, etc. and the one thing alone that should blow you away is the customer service! If you EVER have a problem or a concern I don't think there is a store in the DC metro area (next to Nordstrom) that would take care of you like this. I can not wait for the store opening! Mike Leesburg, VA