First Wegmans in New England opening tomorrow
First Wegmans in New England opening tomorrow
I grew up in Rochester, NY–where Wegmans is based–so this is kind of a big deal to me. I was fairly disappointed to see the state of local grocery stores after moving here to Massachusetts. There’s really been nothing like it here, until now.
At 138,000 square feet, it is larger than two football fields, and the biggest supermarket in all of New England.
Wegmans is obsessively high quality in every detail of their stores - but in Rochester, it’s well understood that you pay a bit more for the privilege of going there (despite the company’s claims otherwise).
Think of what it’s like to shop at a Wal-Mart, and then go to a Target afterwards; now imagine the difference between those stores to be several times more. Now consider: what if you had never been to a Target, and Wal-Mart was all you ever knew?
It’s not that Wegmans is posh; it’s not much like Sudbury Farms, where the pretentiousness is nearly suffocating.1 Rather, Wegmans has a very friendly and accessible atmosphere; it’s just not cheap, in an industry where cheapness is pervasive in almost every aspect.
Despite the company being known for the fanaticism of its customers, even in Rochester–where the family that runs the company are practically celebrities–lots of people refuse to shop there at all because it costs too much.2 Wegmans makes some token gestures to advertise competitive prices on a few things, but they make no serious effort to sway these people.
I like to look at different industries, and ask: what would happen if you took the thing that these companies do, and decided to make it the best you possibly could, and make that the top priority above all else, even above the things that business people are typically concerned with (market share, profits, etc.)? In a lot of industries, such a company doesn’t exist at all, which is sad.
I’m not quite naïve enough to say that any company anywhere meets this ideal; but in groceries, Wegmans seems to come the closest. In that way, they play a similar role as Apple does in electronics.
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I usually refer to them as ‘Snobbery Farms’. Their slogan is, ‘Your family deserves the best’, which rings hollow to me. I always envision Draco Malfoy saying it. It’s not enough to throw money around; you have to care about what you’re doing. Compare this with one of Wegmans’ slogans: ‘Food you feel good about’. It’s humble, and it just about sums up everything they do. ↩︎