New Wegman's near Boston

[rotuts]

a new Wagman's opened this AM in the local Maul.

 

its huge .  two stories  .

 

has an escalator for your shopping Cart !

 

 

its going to put a lot of pressure on the two closest markets Stop&Shop and RocheBro

 

lots of eateries , some you bus your tray by the selections and grab a table , some sit down

 

interesting looking Burger Sitdown place   and a fancier restaurant

 

Sushi bar etc etc   very good looking stuff and a vide selection of imported items

 

also bulk stuff a la BigBox.

 

their store brand looks very good for several items I noted , and is very competitively prices

 

Fish looks good , which is saying something.

 

talked to the butcher at the Prime Carving station.

 

knew a lot about SV

 

SortRibs are problematic in my area.   expensive , and not very meaty at all

 

here they had bone-in for 8.99 , but very meaty and not much bone

 

I caved and got a boneless pack , 9.99 / lbs

 

 

 

all their case meat is vacpacked.  their meat sales are decent.

 

Ill RB40 these three  ( 1.78 lbs total ) for 214 then SV at 130 for 36 , try a slice , then continue to 48 if need be.

 

they told me all of their meat gong on sale from time to time , one cut / animal / week.

 

if these SR taste as good as they look , Ill line up when they go on sale.

 

very nice looking vac'd sirloin steaks  , 4 pack , on sale  5.99

 

not wußte as thick as I might like , but not thin either.  will look at those later in the week.

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/04/27/talkingshop/TSaCCorbAiEwCcTgVjKhOL/story.html

 

note the Cart Escalator.

 

they have a huge selection of prepared food of all varieties , and a similar selection of

 

prepared but cook at home foods.

 

Meal in a Box.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Smithy
Adjusted title (log)

[liamsaunt]

Those short ribs look nice and meaty.

 

Wegman's, Roche Brothers, and Whole Foods are all in my regular market rotation, with occasional jaunts to Eataly on my lunch walk.  I find Wegman's has the best prices on everyday wines and dry goods/paper products etc.  I hate their bakery, and find that in general their produce goes bad quickly.  Their house branded organic poultry is Bell and Evans, which is decent.  They don't sell decent bacon or sausage, and they cut their steaks much to thin for my husband's taste.  The seafood department can be good, and I like that their sushi department sells fish you can use to make your own sushi.  There's a huge prepared food section, but I've never gone in there.

 

My biggest peeve with Wegmans is that they do not employ baggers.  Instead, the cashiers bag your groceries as they ring you up.  I find that this slows down the check out process considerably.  I've tried bagging my own, but they don't like you to do that for some reason.

[rotuts]

The Wagman's puts WF and RocheBr to shame

 

simply on variety , size etc.  

 

the organic sections are immense 

 

the sushi bar either eat or take out looked very promising

 

their prices there are less than RochBro    which recently re-farmed the bar in two stores near me

 

from a Japanese concern.  the people who now make sushi at those two stores know nothing about it

 

and no longer carry Eel , my favorite.

 

after the dust settles , at 7:15 AM today  ( opens at 7:30 )   the store was quite full , but its so big there were no issues.

 

Iv de-Packed the 3 SR's and have them resting in the refrig w some RB40 soaking in on a rack

 

Ill give them 48 H then bag and repost in the SV section.

[gfweb]

We have a Wegmans about 40 min away. They are blowing WF away. The store brand meats are great and diverse. Tritip, chuck eye roast, and other cuts that are only in thieving butch re shops around here.  

[Martin Fisher]

Too bad Wegmans isn't as good as it used to be, when Robert died—things changed drastically.

[Martin Fisher]

A couple of my previous posts.

 

"Too bad Wegmans isn't as good as it used to be!

I used to be one of Wegmans biggest fans!!!

The Corning, NY store opened in June of 1986—that was the first store in our area.

It was open 24 hours, we would often visit in the wee hours of the morning when there were few souls there!

I loved it!!!

After Robert, the patriarch, died in 2006 their business model changed quite a bit.

They focused much more on expansion, rather than taking proper care of the stores they already had!!!

Shelves were/are often bare.

They chose to compete directly with Walmart, Aldi and the like—slapping their once well regarded name on inferior products.

Now, the closest Wegmans, the Elmira, NY store, is just 2 miles away. The Corning store is about 17 miles away. And the Ithaca store—32 miles.

The Ithaca store is probably the best of the three, but it's usually VERY crowded—I HATE crowds! LOL

I still like Wegmans, I shop their more than any grocery store—but I miss the old Wegmans."

 

"This is from one of my Facebook posts some time ago.

The broccoli bin....

And my comments! LOL

"Another rewarding trip to Wegman's!!!!!! GRRRrrrrrrr!!!!!

To their credit, they did have 2 of the 10 items that I needed!!!"

 

I would LOVE to have a personal conversation with Danny Wegman!

 

[rotuts]

I plan to stop by today.

 

they have coupons that come in the mail possible once a month

 

different than their weekly flyer.

 

$ 5 off $ 25   

 

excludes pharmacy

 

says nothing about excluding Booze.

 

they and TotalWine  , really near by are going to do Battle for sure !

 

might post some  Market pOrn later if I remember to take my iPod.

 

its very clear to me that

 

Bezo's Market in my area is going to notice a big dip in Traffic 

 

any food establishment in that Huge High End Maul  might want to relocate.

 

 

[MelissaH]

22 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Those short ribs look nice and meaty.

 

Wegman's, Roche Brothers, and Whole Foods are all in my regular market rotation, with occasional jaunts to Eataly on my lunch walk.  I find Wegman's has the best prices on everyday wines and dry goods/paper products etc.  I hate their bakery, and find that in general their produce goes bad quickly.  Their house branded organic poultry is Bell and Evans, which is decent.  They don't sell decent bacon or sausage, and they cut their steaks much to thin for my husband's taste.  The seafood department can be good, and I like that their sushi department sells fish you can use to make your own sushi.  There's a huge prepared food section, but I've never gone in there.

 

My biggest peeve with Wegmans is that they do not employ baggers.  Instead, the cashiers bag your groceries as they ring you up.  I find that this slows down the check out process considerably.  I've tried bagging my own, but they don't like you to do that for some reason.

If your Wegmans produce goes bad quickly, your stores must have different suppliers than my local Wegmans stores. We've had far greater issues with produce from other supermarkets, which seems to already be on its way out by the time it leaves the store.

 

If you don't like the pre-packed meats, you can always ask at the meat counter if they can cut you a thicker steak. Service is probably what the stores do best.

 

When I get fish, I also ask for a bag of ice, at the stores that have ice makers in the fish department. At other stores, I'll just get an empty plastic bag from the produce area, and get some ice from the drink machine in the cafe. I live an hour away from the nearest Wegmans store, and usually do the week's shopping when I'm in the area for other reasons anyway. I could buy a bag of ice, but that would be total overkill when the only thing I'm getting that really needs the ice is enough fish to be dinner for two. They're happy to do that for me, just like they're happy to tell me which fish came in that day, and let me smell it before they pack it for me to buy. The ice wouldn't be such a big deal if they had a store closer to me. (A small cooler lives in my car, for the perishables I get each week; if I know there's a lot of stuff on my list that needs to stay on ice, I put a larger cooler in the car before I leave home, and either grab some of the ice chunks we keep in the freezer for occasions such as this, if I don't have a lot to do beforehand, or I plan to buy a bag of ice if it's a hot day and there's a long stretch of time between when I leave and when I come home.)

 

I can't speak to the wine, as supermarkets are not allowed to sell wine in NY. But the larger Wegmans stores here (like the flagship stores in each area) have an associated liquor store nearby, usually in the same shopping center, and those all seem to be pretty good in terms of selection and price.

 

The larger Wegmans near us will use separate baggers only on weekends near holidays, when lots of people are buying lots of stuff. I don't find the process to be inefficient, by any stretch, and they cashiers are usually really good at the details: asking you whether you like your bags packed light or heavy, using rubber bands to go around the containers that can pop open (like egg cartons and berry clamshells), putting leakables in plastic before they go in with other stuff, and making sure the bread, eggs, and chips are on the top of the bag. Along that lines, their reusable bags are among the best quality I've seen, able to withstand a heavy load and keep their structural integrity. If you always shop at the same store at about the same time, you'll get to know the cashiers who are generally working then, and can pick one to always visit. They'll get to know who you are, and what you like. (And once that happens, don't hesitate to submit a comment through the website or the app, so they and their manager know how good they are.)

 

Speaking of the app: if you shop at a Wegmans even semi-regularly, it's worth trading a bit of your privacy for the convenience. I love that you can put your shopping list in, and it will then organize it for you by aisle, specific to whatever store you want to shop at. Even if you aren't familiar with the layout of a particular location, it's possible to get in and out with even a reasonably long list in half an hour. The app will give you prices of items at that store, which makes it easy to comparison shop if you're elsewhere and see something that's on your list and also gives you an idea of how much you'll be spending. My husband and I use the same login, so we can both add stuff to our list. We use the item notes for things like produce and deli, to let each other know specific amounts of things to get (half a pound of turkey and a pound of Jarlsberg cheese from the deli, 3 crowns of broccoli this week) if it isn't obvious or if it's different from the norm. And you can have multiple lists: we keep one list that has all the stuff we need for a party we have each year, which gets adjusted as we fine-tune the amount of stuff we need. There's another list for another get-together that happens annually. There's yet another list for the stuff we need to get when our house-sitter comes to stay with the cats if we're away for an extended period. And there's our everyday shopping list. The only thing is that when you have multiple lists, the app can only deal with checking off items on one list at a time. If you switch lists, everything that had been checked gets unchecked. And if you have two people with the same login, you can only have one list active at a time, and items that get checked off on one phone don't show up as checked off on the other person's phone. So if you shop with someone else, designate one person to "drive" the list and check off items.

 

I wish they'd add a store closer to me.

[kayb]

Unfortunately, Wegman's does not extend down to my part of the world; I've shopped in them when visiting the northeast. They're NICE. I love Publix, here, but the closest ones are in Nashville. A St. Louis chain, Schnucks, made a foray into the Memphis market a few years ago and I liked their stores, but they didn't last long. Kroger, and of course, WalMart, are the 900 pound gorillas in the room around here. Fortunately, Kroger is generally pretty good, and the "upscale" ones have a decent selection of meat, seafood and deli.

[rotuts]

Pics from Wagmans :

 

 

up the escalator is Meat/fish/foods to eat / bakery.  thee are at least 4 isles like this .2/sided w end caps like this :

 

 

 

there are at least 4 if not 6 self-service island like this.  two or more are Organic : make your Salad etc

 

 

it was 10 AM and a bit early for a full sushi-trake out.  the counter is twice this length.  their prices are fair for the area. the long items on the lower right were

 

7.99 , and some kind of volcano salmon and V.Scallops.  next to this there is a dumpling-bar , about this length

 

 

service meat , much of the beef prime or Wagmans aged choice.  unlike other stores in the area , the store aged choice is very clearly marked 

 

and you are not going to confuse it w aged prime which they also have.  a tiny problem at another local store, as I see it. their meat prices from above are

 

a bit better than that store.

 

 

Vac packaged beef.  my boneless SR's came from here yest, are are enjoying themselves in the refrg.

 

 

sale sirloin strips , $ 5.99.  there are 4 steaks / package , and individually vac'd but you buy 4.    I can't say if they will cut you different ones

 

I didn't ask.  Service seems to be one of their strengths  .   4 of the MeatGuys knew all about SV

 

the slimmer steaks seem to be a bit thicker than the wider ones , and have more marbling.  if I wasn't working on the SR , the package you see

 

on the lower R would have had my name on it.  there is plenty to look over and chose the marbling of your choice 

 

I appreciated the fact that the marbling of each of the 4 steaks in a sale pack is consistent.

 

next week Ill look them over again and get a 4 pack to RB40 and SV.  All packs are dated w how long you can keep them refrigerated etc.

 

their sales are two weeks.

 

there is a huge amount of stuff I didn't take pics of.

 

took a look at their bakery and its very nice.   they were sampling a pear-almond tort

 

and it was superb. exceptional crust and lots and lots of pears.  I didn't check to see if they had `1/2 sized torts

 

just as well.  I imagine that if you are a home baker you can make a better tart , but Id bet by not much.

 

I studied their wine selection , and its decent , but Total Whine has much much more and its a block away.

 

their large bottle of HighEnd booze are 1 dollar more than TW , i.e. in the 60 $ range

 

no Macon Inge  , my favorite from TJ's     a standard Macon Village is probably $ 15 , and nowhere near a nice as the TJ's M.Inge

 

which is of course not their fault.   how Tj's stubbled on that wine Ill never know.

 

this store very much changed the SuperMarket dynamic in my area ,  for the better.

 

P.S.:  no eel in the shush bar.  I asked and was told that its on a non-sustainable list

 

somewhere 

 

 

one last thought that might only interest me :

 

the shopping cart escalators are obviously on the same incline as the foot escalators.

 

somehow the carts stay level both going up and coming down

 

 

this requires further investigating

 

and of course of no interest what so ever , they have one of those Chi-Chi 

 

"  Let us Cut up your Vegetables Bars, and peel that Mango you pick out.  While you Watch ! "

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[Smithy]

Escalators in a grocery store. That means a multi-floor grocery store. My world experience is sooo limited. 

[Anna N]

6 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Escalators in a grocery store. That means a multi-floor grocery store. My world experience is sooo limited. 

 Heck even we have them!  With the same special escalator to take the carts.  I positively hate them. 

[rotuts]

@Smithy

 

this might be the only one in the country

 

not sure 

 

 

pic for review purposes and from the Boston Globe.

 

this was a JCPenney's  when JCP was at it prime.

 

its a connected-to-the-maul semi independent building.

 

its as large as a JCP's ever was.

 

Ive just noted :  there seems to be a third story that's not used

 

for now.

 

I sure can pick where do live , 

 

 

fine library system

 

stuff to Ooogle and NotBuy near a very high end Maul ?

 

"  like those shoes Bespoke from London ?  '

 

from John Lobb ?

 

Step right in  etc

[rotuts]

@Anna N

 

Wow

 

did you ride them ?  or just add your cart ?

 

Ive alway found that the Canadienne's 

 

were very advanced

 

and still quite polite

 

go figure.

Edited April 30, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

Explanation of cart escalators.

 

 Should’ve said example rather than explanation.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N

 

Wow

 

did you ride them ?  or just add your cart ?

 

Ive alway found that the Canadienne's 

 

were very advanced

 

and still quite polite

 

go figure.

 

I chicken out and use the elevator. There are carts available on the second floor and they are quite different In construction from the ones that go on to the escalators. 

[rotuts]

@Anna N

 

Wow

 

Target !  LA !

 

you didn't mention if you took the cart escalator by mistake

 

just saying.

[KennethT]

Many of the supermarkets/large stores (like BB&B) in Manhattan use a cart escalator - typically,  they only take the cart itself, and is immediately adjacent to the person escalator.  The cart one has no platform, it just has pegs on both sides.

 

I used to go to the Ithaca Wegman's all the time in the mid '90s...  that was probably the best supermarket I had ever seen... even for that time, they had a lot of international stuff - much more that what I was used to.

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N

 

Wow

 

Target !  LA !

 

you didn't mention if you took the cart escalator by mistake

 

just saying.

 No I am not likely to take an escalator by mistake. I have an irrational fear of the damn things. 

[Martin Fisher]

11 hours ago, MelissaH said:

If your Wegmans produce goes bad quickly, your stores must have different suppliers than my local Wegmans stores. We've had far greater issues with produce from other supermarkets, which seems to already be on its way out by the time it leaves the store.

 

Yeah, Wegmans produce is generally quite good, the only item I've had major problems with are the avocados. I love avocados, but they're relatively expensive, and a crap shoot in terms of quality. I haven't bought any in a couple years.

[Martin Fisher]

Ain't ever seem a cart escalator, but our local mall has escalators running up and down to the food court.

I'm comfortable with escalators. When Sears was in downtown Elmira, they had escalators. So I've had experience with them since I was a young child.

Sears is now, and has been, for many years, at the mall.

 

 

[Martin Fisher]

10 hours ago, rotuts said:

Pics from Wagmans :

 

 

up the escalator is Meat/fish/foods to eat / bakery.  thee are at least 4 isles like this .2/sided w end caps like this :

 

 

 

there are at least 4 if not 6 self-service island like this.  two or more are Organic : make your Salad etc

 

 

it was 10 AM and a bit early for a full sushi-trake out.  the counter is twice this length.  their prices are fair for the area. the long items on the lower right were

 

7.99 , and some kind of volcano salmon and V.Scallops.  next to this there is a dumpling-bar , about this length

 

 

service meat , much of the beef prime or Wagmans aged choice.  unlike other stores in the area , the store aged choice is very clearly marked 

 

and you are not going to confuse it w aged prime which they also have.  a tiny problem at another local store, as I see it. their meat prices from above are

 

a bit better than that store.

 

 

Vac packaged beef.  my boneless SR's came from here yest, are are enjoying themselves in the refrg.

 

 

sale sirloin strips , $ 5.99.  there are 4 steaks / package , and individually vac'd but you buy 4.    I can't say if they will cut you different ones

 

I didn't ask.  Service seems to be one of their strengths  .   4 of the MeatGuys knew all about SV

 

the slimmer steaks seem to be a bit thicker than the wider ones , and have more marbling.  if I wasn't working on the SR , the package you see

 

on the lower R would have had my name on it.  there is plenty to look over and chose the marbling of your choice 

 

I appreciated the fact that the marbling of each of the 4 steaks in a sale pack is consistent.

 

next week Ill look them over again and get a 4 pack to RB40 and SV.  All packs are dated w how long you can keep them refrigerated etc.

 

their sales are two weeks.

 

there is a huge amount of stuff I didn't take pics of.

 

took a look at their bakery and its very nice.   they were sampling a pear-almond tort

 

and it was superb. exceptional crust and lots and lots of pears.  I didn't check to see if they had `1/2 sized torts

 

just as well.  I imagine that if you are a home baker you can make a better tart , but Id bet by not much.

 

I studied their wine selection , and its decent , but Total Whine has much much more and its a block away.

 

their large bottle of HighEnd booze are 1 dollar more than TW , i.e. in the 60 $ range

 

no Macon Inge  , my favorite from TJ's     a standard Macon Village is probably $ 15 , and nowhere near a nice as the TJ's M.Inge

 

which is of course not their fault.   how Tj's stubbled on that wine Ill never know.

 

this store very much changed the SuperMarket dynamic in my area ,  for the better.

 

P.S.:  no eel in the shush bar.  I asked and was told that its on a non-sustainable list

 

somewhere 

 

 

one last thought that might only interest me :

 

the shopping cart escalators are obviously on the same incline as the foot escalators.

 

somehow the carts stay level both going up and coming down

 

 

this requires further investigating

 

and of course of no interest what so ever , they have one of those Chi-Chi 

 

"  Let us Cut up your Vegetables Bars, and peel that Mango you pick out.  While you Watch ! "

 

 

 

 Everything is MUCH bigger there, as is expected.

[rustwood]

On 4/29/2018 at 11:56 PM, DiggingDogFarm said:

"Shelves were/are often bare.

.

.

"Another rewarding trip to Wegman's!!!!!! GRRRrrrrrrr!!!!!

To their credit, they did have 2 of the 10 items that I needed!!!"

 

I am a big fan of our Wegmans; however, I routinely come home without one or two items because they are out of them - sometimes even basic produce like broccoli.  With that said, it is somewhat understandable as our nearby Wegmans is one of their smaller stores (relatively speaking) and it is a very popular location.

 

Our store seems to carry  the full array of the prepared fresh foods and the ready to eat stuff - which makes sense since that seems to be their major profit source ($7.50 lb for spiralized zucchini!) .  The "reduced" store size seems to primarily impact the selection and available quantity of pantry items.  They do try to keep things stocked though - as evidenced by people stocking shelves even during peak times (which otherwise would make no sense at all).

 

 

[MSRadell]

I grew up in Rochester, the home of Wegmans and have really missed them ever since leaving the area.  I know they're expanding but I don't think they're ever going to get to Louisville Kentucky.  They can certainly make a killing here, the only large supermarkets we have our Kroger and Meiers out of Michigan, they both leave a lot to be desired.  We also have a couple of Fresh Markets And One Whole Foods.

 

I really miss the variety and level of service that Wegmans gives in every store I've ever been to.

Edited May 3, 2018 by MSRadell (log)

[Martin Fisher]

On 4/30/2018 at 10:00 AM, MelissaH said:

I can't speak to the wine, as supermarkets are not allowed to sell wine in NY.

 

Yeah, such a dumb law.

 

On 4/30/2018 at 10:00 AM, MelissaH said:

The larger Wegmans near us will use separate baggers only on weekends near holidays, when lots of people are buying lots of stuff.

 

Never here at the local Elmira store.