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Wegmans Opens in Northern Virginia


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The Wal Mart that was bulldozed was 60,000 square feet. This Wegmans is the largest in their chain at 130,000.

It's ludicrous to compare this to Wal Mart. No, there is no romance associated with it and it will hurt a number of other grocers and small businesses. But Wegmans has raised the bar forcing Giant, Whole Foods, Sutton Place and others to look at their own stores to try and hold onto market share. And yes, the international is weak. Weak if you're comparing it to Super H or a market dedicated to a particular ethnic group, say Indian or Hispanic. And yes, they don't carry tasso. (But they do have two kinds of Italian proscutto sliced to order along with Serrano.) They also carry the best hot dogs of any market in D. C. along with kummelweck rolls; in fact their bread is second only to the Bread Line (has anyone noted their wood burning bread oven?).

I suspect a lot of criticism for this store is coming from people that don't live anywhere near it and are forced to shop at a D. C. Safeway or Giant along with five other markets to suppliment them. Wegmans may not have the corn I can find in Upper Montgomery County in July or the tomatoes in Richmond but its produce is more complete and on par in quality to Whole Foods.

There are reasons why the 1,500 car parking lot is filled on Saturdays and Sundays and half filled on weekdays. This store is ahead of their Pittsford store in sales volume and on track to be the #1 grossing grocery store in America.

There are reasons for this.

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A friend went out there and was blown away by the cheese department, and then by the chocolate department. She had never seen anything like it. (Well, her previous favorite was Super WalMart in Winchester). She couldn't really see much of the rest of the store.... :raz:

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Oh Geez!

In no way was I comparing Wegman's to Wal Mart.

There is no comparison, for one thing Wegman's offers things that

not only any average Joe can buy, but they also cater to the experienced foodie

or culinaire, with a staff that has been trained and is knowledgeable about what they are selling. In Wal Mart you're lucky the employees can even speak English.

All I was trying to say is that Loudoun County has gone from being the Boonies...

to a very affluent and populated area, with alot of people who are willing to

support a store as unique as Wegman's. And yes, I realize that the structure Wegman's is was not the old Walmart, it was gutted. Same location and much different store.

Good Day!

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No offense taken Doc - I simply misunderstood your comment :rolleyes:

Wegmans may not have the corn I can find in Upper Montgomery County in July

I don't know if they'll adopt the same approach in VA that they do here in Syracuse but I have actually seen with my own eyes, farmers with their beat up old pickup truck pulled up to the front door during the sweet corn season - unloading the corn they picked that day directly into the produce department .

Compare that to the Shop Rite where I lived in North Jersey - NJ gorws some fantastic sweet corn but they never bothered to sell it at Shop Rite - we got crap from some out of state farms.

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Does anyone know where the one in Fairfax is going to be located? Fairfax City or surrounding area Fairfax? Is it being built already?

I think it is the Fair Lakes area. I read somewhere that they have pushed the opening back to 2005.

My sister and I drove 40 miles each way to the one in Sterling. On a Saturday afternoon. What a zoo. We were both blown away by the whole experience.

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

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Does anyone know where the one in Fairfax is going to be located? Fairfax City or surrounding area Fairfax? Is it being built already?

The new Wegmans will be near the Ruth Chris' steakhouse/Cinema Deluxe plaza...just west of Fairfax City.

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Actually, right at the corner of Lee Highway (Rte 29) and Monument Drive. Just went by there today and the foundation is rising. But the parking could be interesting.

Rick Azzarano

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Ian and I took a field trip to Wegman's this morning, so finally I know what the fuss is all about. It's a lovely place, but at 60 miles round trip I really don't see myself driving there all that often.

Ian had a slice of pizza and seemed to enjoy it, I had a cup of coffee (not very good) and some green curry chicken from the hot food bar. The curry was not bad for a steam table.

A few impressions:

The produce looked terrific, except for some slightly squishy peppers.

They had Picholine olives at the olive bar. :wub: Ian went crazy over the olives; I had to pull his hand away before he could snag a few. The fresh hummus bar is a nice touch.

The meat looked good, but no slab bacon. Nice looking deli with serrano ham available.

The most beautiful pastries I've ever seen in a grocery store. I wish I had bought something now. The breads looked decent and we took home of a loaf of the rosemary bread we tasted.

The prices of the regular groceries did not seem out of line with what we pay at Giant or Safeway. Boy I wish they would open in Mo Co.

Edited by hjshorter (log)

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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  • 2 months later...

We tried the Dry-Aged beef from Wegman's for dinner last night and it was damn good.

We bought two strips and I seared them in a pan and finished in a scorching hot oven. Not to pat myself on the back, but they had a nice crust and were done just right. But that could be done with any steak.

The steak itself is what makes me post this. The taste was perfectly "beefy" and the strips were very tender while still retaining the texture you would want.

Not cheap - $24/lb - but worth it when only a good piece of beef will do.

Bill Russell

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We tried the Dry-Aged beef from Wegman's for dinner last night and it was damn good.

Note: Whole Foods has started to sell dry-aged beef as well. It makes a big difference.

Which Whole Foods?!

Oh, J[esus]. You may be omnipotent, but you are SO naive!

- From the South Park Mexican Starring Frog from South Sri Lanka episode

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We tried the Dry-Aged beef from Wegman's for dinner last night and it was damn good.

Note: Whole Foods has started to sell dry-aged beef as well. It makes a big difference.

Which Whole Foods?!

I know for sure the one in SS has dry aged.

If memory serves me right, dry aged NY Strip was $20 a pound (but I may be wrong). I'll pay more attention next time I'm in there.

PS- While their mushroom selection has improved somewhat, their peppers still suck rhino.

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

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  • 1 month later...

According to a report this morning on WTOP (which is unfortunately not on their web site at the moment) the Dulles Wegman's has been so spectacularly successful that they will also be opening one in Leesburg - no date mentioned though. No info on the Wegman's site either, but they don't seem to update the corporate stuff or press releases very often.

"Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cookbook! Little Red Cookbook!" --Eddie Izzard
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  • 4 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Did anybody go to the grand opening of the Fairfax Wegman's on Sunday? I'm wondering if it was as much of a madhouse as the opening of the Sterling location.

I didn't but a neighbor did, and she said it was packed, just like the Sterling store was when it opened (I did go to that one). Waited in line to park, etc. I'm going to give them a try later today just to see how bad the crowd is. Will report back later.

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne." John Maynard Keynes

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I was reading on Chowhound that the Police were turning people away from parking in the garage, but that the inside wasn't nearly as crowded as the Dulles opening a year ago. I'm not sure how it could be more crowded than it was at Dulles.

Bill Russell

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