Wegmans is open
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By Aileen Streng
Published: June 8, 2008
It was quite the event.
The line started at 4:50 a.m. for the 7 a.m. opening of the new Wegmans supermarket in Woodbridge on Sunday.
By 7 a.m., 1,000 people stood in a line that wrapped around the 140,000-square-foot building all the way back to the loading dock and the parking lot was full.
By 8 a.m. cars continued to circle the parking lot looking for an open slot while others streamed in from Neabsco Mills Road.
Prince William County residents had long begged and pleaded for high-end retail. The arrival of upscale New York grocer Wegmans signaled the beginning of a change and resident
responded by coming out for the opening.
Jerry Trenkelbach of Woodbridge was standing outside the Wegmans front doors long before sunrise on Sunday. His wife Kate soon joined him.
"He wanted to be first in line," Kate Trenkelbach said. He succeeded.
Friends Evelyn Lester, Kathy Gibson, both of Woodbridge, along with Mary Greenway of Fairfax County, arrived at 5:02 a.m. and queued in behind them.
"We're here just for the fun of it," Lester said. "I used to hate grocery shopping. Wegmans is an experience. It's not just a grocery store."
The women had shopped in the other two Wegmans stores in Sterling and Fairfax County.
"It's a cooks dream to have everything in one place that you need and want," Greenway said.
Former Prince William County Supervisor Hilda Barg of Woodbridge also was on hand for the opening. She had driven back eight hours from vacationing in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to make the event.
"I wanted to show my appreciation to the Wegmans family for coming to our community and being a community partner," Barg said.
Wegmans recently donated a tractor-trailer filled with 16,839 items of non-perishable food, including canned soup, vegetables, cereal, fruit, baking mixes, crackers, condiments and pasta to the Action in Community Through Service food pantry.
"I believe this [store] will help us rehabilitate eastern Prince William County," Barg said. "It's the first step that we are coming back."
Wegmans employees gathered in a semicircle around the front entrance at 7 a.m. A pep rally atmosphere wa
created as they spelled out Wegmans in a cheer with plenty of clapping and shouting before the first customers were let in.
After touring the store, Gibson said she was not disappointed. "It's fabulous and I will be back."
Wegmans is located at the Potomac Town Center off the new stretch of
Neabsco Mills Road between Optiz and Dale boulevards. Wegmans Food Markets Inc. is a 71-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.
Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( Wegmans 1 ) on June 13, 2008 at 8:37 am
I agree Marilyn - some people posting (who ever they are, akiser, phdee, etc.) think working at Wegman’s or grocery stores have meaningless or worthless jobs - nothing could be further from the truth. Only narrow minded people think that way and it is insulting to a good employer who employs smart, hard working people.
Further - We should all be APPRECIATIVE that WEGMAN’s and KETTLER even took an INTEREST in PWC - and your damn right, I think the future of ANY Route 1 development is coming sooner rather than later and we will have WEGMANs to thank for it. If you think that Featherstone Mall, Marumsco Plaza, Potomac Plaza and the rest will not be redeveloped and revitalized within the next 5 years, you are simply wrong. The land is cheap and it is a gold mine investment opportunity. The success of Wegmans will make other higher-end retail placement possible and encourage them to come here.
As a homeowner in Woodbridge (off of Route 1), I think it is great and about time.
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Posted by ( Marilyn ) on June 12, 2008 at 11:45 am
Wegmans is consistently rated among the top employers in the United States. A company doesn’t achieve that status by offering low wages and hiring “the best of the worst.“ There is no doubt that Wegmans was able to hire many good, dedicated, and loyal workers who previously worked at the Giant Food Stores that recently closed in the Woodbridge area and that those employees are THRILLED to be at a local Wegmans. Unfortunate that certain folks generalize by looking down on some people because of the job they’ve chosen to do; rather, we should be thankful that they’ve chosen that work.
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Posted by ( phdee ) on June 11, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Looks like I have a name impersonator, right akiser? Plan to post using my name? Really, don’t you have anything to do other than track others? Guess it takes all kinds to make the world.
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Posted by ( phdee ) on June 11, 2008 at 6:13 pm
The post that Wegmans will r4evitalize the entire Rt. 1 area all the way to the bridge was simply hilarious!!! At last - a crown jewel for PWC. I guess when a big grocery store comes, the upsace consumers will come to the area. And when can we expect this revitalization to occur? 2075?
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Posted by ( phdee ) on June 11, 2008 at 3:15 pm
That many people seeking jobs in an occupation that, by local salaries, is at the lower wage level, indicates several things: highminemployment, great job disatisfaction, dead end careers, lowly skilled workers, etc. So Wegmans allegedly got to select the “best” from among the “worst”? Wow! A real coup.
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Posted by ( Wegmans 1 ) on June 11, 2008 at 1:47 pm
that is another point. When over 3,000 people apply for 600 jobs, Wegmans was able to reject 5 out of every 6 candidates.
this means - (drumroll please) the lazy, not-helpful, attitude-filled worker is probably not at Wegmans. Which is better for everyone who shops there - THAT right there, is worth money ANY day of the week!
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on June 10, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I’m shocked here i agree with Phdee about Wegman’s and profit margin. Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( darkprime ) on June 10, 2008 at 11:08 am
I’m not sure if a store has been approved for Fredricksburg, but I know they are interested in opening one there. They definitely will be opening one in Leesburg and Manassas Lake.
One area Wegmans beats all grocery competition in are their lines. It’s customary that most of the day nearly all registers are open. They try to keep it so that no more than 1 customer is waiting in a line to be checked out. I’ve been in Giants, Safeways, and Shoppers where I have waited in line for 15-30 minutes, but at wegmans, it’s never more than a couple minutes for the person ahead of me to finish. Here’s another thing: all wegmans have a cooler near the registers with very common items, in particular Milk and Eggs. All other stores make you go to the back of the store to get those items.
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Posted by ( Wegmans 1 ) on June 10, 2008 at 10:58 am
QUOTED - Posted by ( phdee ) on June 09, 2008 at 5:09 pm
How can Wegmans be all this stuff and be cheaper than others? It can’t. Unless it was to be a losing business. The Wegman’s flyer had few if any merchandise cheaper than other stores. What Wegmans did, was like Shoppers food, pick the cherries, i.e don’t put on sale what Giant & Safeway have on sale that week, and find items where there is a price spread. It’s an old game. Why pay double price for Wegman’s store brand of veggies, for instance, when you can get them for half the price at Bottom Dollar, Aldies, and sometimes Bloom.
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PHDEE - I have to disagree here. All of the fruit (in particular the berries) at Bloom and the rest of those stores are moldy! - sitting in the bin MOLDY! - yep. So, what you save (30 cents or whatever, if anything), your food has signficantly less shelf life than if you bought at Wegmans. (quick turnaround helps (Wegmans) - AND since no one buys at Bottom Dollar and those other stores their items sit on the shelf FOREVER - and they don’t get removed at all. gross.
I shopped yesterday at WEGMANS and saved on almost EVERY single item i bought. Of course, you cannot even compare the prepared food items because as everyone knows, none of these other stores even has prepared foods. All they have is some lousy deli with some sub-standard pasta salads and a lousy attitude to boot.
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Posted by ( Marilyn ) on June 10, 2008 at 9:30 am
The staff did a tremendous job getting folks into the store on opening day and there was someone every few feet to help with directions or information on products. It was very nice to sample some of the products and the checkout lines went surprisingly fast. I asked about some of the products (bialys) I’ve been able to get at the Fairfax store and told that, for the most part, they’ll be available, just not yet. I’m okay with that! The foccacia is no longer carried, but the think crust pre-made pizzas are FABULOUS! The nicest thing of all was the warm welcome and upbeat attitude of the Wegmans workers. “Thank you for coming today” was frequently heard and appreciated. I could see that the parking lots weren’t finished; but, I’m happy the store opening wasn’t delayed while additional parking was completed. Parking is simple, but timing is important. No doubt the crowds will thin out when the Fredericksburg store opens. Thanks for coming to Woodbridge, Wegmans!!
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