There had been a weird buzz of anticipation in Raleigh for a few months. Then two weeks ago, a front-page story on the Raleigh News-Observer warned readers of an expected daylong traffic snarl near the junction of Wake Forest Road and the I-440 exit ramps to that street.
Why?
The grand opening of Wegmans, a store I would describe as a big-box grocery -- on steroids. Think Costco, only more decorative ... and loaded with attractions and amenities, all revolving around groceries, prepared food and beverages.
I first heard of Wegmans a few years ago when I was still living in Indiana, but there were no such stores there, so I didn't pay much attention or think much of it. And ... there were any Wegmans in North Carolina when we moved here.
Then a year ago, the local news media reported that the franchise was planning to open its first store in the state sometime in 2019. They spoke in such superlative terms, that I'm sure it piqued the interest of anyone who was paying attention. Wegmans has its origins in the state of New York, and all of its stores are in the East. The overwhelming majority are located in New York, with 46. Next highest are Pennsylvania (18) and Virginia (12). There are also Wegmans in Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
At the same time Wegmans announced plans to open the Raleigh store, it said it would eventually open several others in the Triangle area -- two in Cary (Raleigh's largest and most affluent suburb), one in Durham and one in the far-north suburb of Wake Forest. Of all these stores, the one that just opened is probably the closest to where Lee Ann and I live, which is on the southside of Raleigh.
The day after the store opening here (adding to the notoriety was that the Raleigh store was Wegmans 100th), the local newspaper, the Raleigh
News and Observer, confirmed there was quite a hub at the store site. This week, a couple weeks after the official opening, Lee Ann and I decided to give it a look-see after a stop at Costco (one of which is about a city block and a half away from the new Wegmans). There was still heavy traffic into and out of the store, but fortunately, not nearly what I saw described in the newspaper article after the first day.
As for my impression of the store? Ohhhhh my.
I have never been in a grocery quite like this. It's hard to figure out how to explain it. Yes, there are groceries. Tons of them. And there are prepared food bars galore -- salads, Mediterranean fare, vegetarian offerings, and there was even an extensive Asian fare bar. Along a nearby wall, there were shops with more prepared foods -- one for subs and sandwiches, another for pizza and still another for burgers, where visitors also could grab beer (both bottled and on tap) and wine if they wanted to sit in the dining area and eat there.
There were separate "markets" (essentially, set aside areas where store workers helped customers) for meat, seafood, cheese, baked goods, and even one for charcuterie.
Wegmans has extensive organic options for many of its groceries, and organic offerings are clearly labeled. It also has vast displays of bottled wine and bottled and canned beer, traditional domestic, imports and -- my favorite -- craft brews. The day we were there, a store employee was offering samples of a Belgium amber ale and an IPA made by different North Carolina breweries.
Both Lee Ann and I decided to dine there, and we also both hit the Asian bars hard, veering only to sample nearby friend chicken. Lee Ann drank water with her meal; I had a draft IPA. And, yeah ... we may have bought a few things (groceries) to take home.
I still marvel at all I saw inside a "grocery" stores. I'm sure in the not too distant future, some linguist will come up with a new term to attach to stores like this ... is many more chains move in the same direction.
As always, if you want to view a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful if you access the blog using a mobile device. To see a
full gallery of images from my visit to Raleigh's first Wegmans, click on the link in this sentence.
Above is first view of one of the open areas of Wegmans after walking in. Looking at the ceiling, you can understand it when people describe this as a big box grocery. The first two photos below are from the coffee station area (think Starbucks in a Target store).
Very near the front of the store, the sundry prepared food bars begin, including the vegetarian bar (above), and a closeup (below) of one of the pans in the Asian fare bar.
Against the wall are a string of counter-service prepared food speciality "shops. Above, the subs and sandwich shop is in the foreground. Further down is the pizza shop on the same side of the aisle as the sub shop and the burger bar (below), on the opposite side of the aisle. Somewhere in between there was a refrigerator case of a lot of sushi offerings (second below).
Above and below: Different shots of some of the full-fish offerings in the seafood market, including lionfish (above) and snapper (below).
The bakery market (above) included a selection of the zebra-striped yummies stuffed with a buttercream filling that you see below. I admit that I was lured by the zebra string and had to buy one. It was pretty good.
I wrote above that there was a charcuterie market at Wegmans, and I include the photo above to prove it. The two photos below are closeups from the display windows there. It includes a sign indicating the store does not add nitrates to the prosciutto seen in its display windows.
The produce section includes a large display (above) of organic salads and greens, mostly kale, spinach and mixed greens. If you want Mediterranean fare but don't want it from the prepared food bars, you can also select from the small "grab-n-go" case (first photo below) or ask a server to help you select what you want from the larger offerings (second photo below).
Perspective (above) and closeup (below) shots of the store's floral shop.
Closeups of an autumn squash (above) and fresh broccoli florets (below).
As recent as a year ago or so, it was difficult to find organic coffees in grocery stores. That has change in such a short amount of time. The above is just a small section of Wegmans' organic coffee (beans and/or ground) offerings.
Lee Ann has been looking for organic San Marzano peeled tomatoes for a sauce recipe, and was dazzled when she saw this at Wegmans.
Above: Just a slice of the wine offerings at Wegmans. An employee told us that the store was waiting for shipments of several hundred other wines, and if you notice the storage space from halfway up to the ceiling, it has quite a bit of room to display it. These shelves give yet another example of the "big box" description of the store.
Above, Wegmans gives customers an idea of the various North Carolina breweries represented in its craft beer bottle and can displays. A closeup of some of the offerings is shown in the first image below. The second image below shows that Wegmans carries Tuffy, a lager affiliated with the North Carolina State University athletics teams. A growing number of Division I schools are gravitating toward stamping their name and logo on beers like this.
Above: Organic citrus that Wegmans organizes in an aisle.
Above and below are shots from display sections of the fresh-cut meats department, including the one above -- another industry "trend" in which "meat" made from plants is packed like ground beef.
Back to the bakery market, I came across the pretzel bites (above) and a sampling of a sourdough bread (below).
Above: I saw a couple of these kinds of signs near the checkout aisles, where (you can probably guess) there was an assortment of snack goods available to grab and toss into the car while waiting in line.
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