My First Ever Trip to a Wegmans

I've always heard from people in the area and even some not from area, that Wegmans is one the best supermarket chains they've ever stepped foot in. Interestingly enough, I never actually stepped inside one, that is, until recently. I was in the area trying to kill some time, and after having come out of the Kmart that sits right next door to this Wegmans, I decided to step into what would be an amazing first visit. Those people weren't kidding. Even though this Wegmans is a location that is older in the chain's history, it still is taken care of well and has everything you'd expect from a supermarket.

Before we actually get into taking a look at pictures, I just want to provide some minor background information on the Rochester, NY based company. Wegmans currently has around 85 stores, with a few new locations scheduled to open in the next few years in parts of its existing footprint which includes Western New York, parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts and New Jersey. The interesting thing to Wegmans is that they skipped over a lot of Pennsylvania and also parts of NY to make an expansion into the DC/Baltimore and Boston markets respectively. The map below shows their current (as of this post) locations:

Map credit to Wikipedia.

At least for the PA skip, the reason is because of population, or rather a lack of. As I mentioned in Potter County post, northern PA lacks a major-sized city, therefore creating not many retail sights in this portion of the blog coverage area. I cannot really explain however why they skipped over the Hudson Valley in eastern New York to operate two isolated Massachusetts stores. Wegmans probably has its reasons for doing so, but what they are, who knows? Population certainly isn't the reason there.

Anyways, we will now start looking at the Lakewood, NY location:

As I mentioned in the introduction, this Wegmans is the first ever location I stepped foot in. I would also like to add that it is also the first time I really focused on trying to take pictures at a supermarket. There's also the fact that some portions of the store were extremely busy, so some areas may not have been covered well. 

Produce

Produce straight ahead and floral to your left greet you upon entering this location.

Floral area. You can see the entrance/exit in the background here.

Most Wegmans feature a 'Market Cafe' and that is what is to your right upon entering. This was one of the busiest areas of the store along the deli, which sits behind the cafe along the right side of the wall. Because this area was so busy, I did not get many pictures and one of the few I did get take turned out rather blurry. Therefore it will not be posted here on the blog, but it has been posted over on my Flickr account. Here's the few pictures I was able to grab from this portion of the store:

The cafe features salad bars as well as items you could order from the counter.

Stepping outside for a quick moment at some seating which is outdoors. The Market Cafe does have interior seating too, but I did not take a picture inside.

After visiting the right wall of the store, we know move to the back. Here we find the natural foods area, a whole department dedicated to cheese and more as you will you see below.

Cheese

Now we move into the actual aisles of the store which features a different style of floor:

Health and Beauty

Giant Beer tap found near the beverage of the same name.

After sticking to the wall portions of the store, I went down one of many aisles to the halfway actionway and this is where that mustard floor looks really odd, yet unique at the same time.

Moving on to front area of the store:

The pharmacy is a box in the center of the store like some Walmart locations. Unlike Walmart, however, you can actually walk inside here.

Checkout lanes.

Opposite the pharmacy is the bakery area. On the other side of the wall here, is where produce is.

Just like others said, Wegmans is a nice supermarket. I can't frequent it often due to closest location being an hour away, but its nice to now its here. Not only does Wegmans thank you for stopping by, I would also like to thank you for once again taking a look at the Twin Tiers Retail Blog. See you in the next post!