Wegmans Food Markets
Opened: 2017
Opened: 2017
Previous Tenants: none
Location: 34 Sylvan Way, Hanover, NJ
Photographed: December 2020
It's been a while since we last toured a Wegmans (I guess that was Hornell back in December 2020?) and interestingly enough, I posted that store within a few weeks of photographing this one. The 113,000 square foot store is incredibly deluxe and features a gigantic cafe and liquor store. It is, however, very similar to most of the other Wegmans stores from the last decade or two.
The enormous location opened in 2017 in an isolated spot nearly half a mile off of route 10, but in a very visible spot facing interstate 287, from which you can see but not access the store. Now I'm unsure exactly how to start this tour, so let's head in to the food court in the front right corner. The liquor store is also in the front right corner, with deli and then butcher/seafood along the right side of the grand aisle; produce and bakery are on the left side of the grand aisle. Packaged meats and then dairy line the back wall, with pharmacy in an island in the grocery aisles. Frozen foods are then at the far left side of the store along with bulk foods and sale items. (FYI, this store is also referred to as Parsippany, although it's not actually within the borders of Parsippany. But I have tagged this post with both.)
Here we have pizza, wings, and subs on the front wall, with the entrance being at the far end of this counter. The front-end is visible in the far distance above.
The burger bar faces the cafe seating area to the right and the liquor store beyond it to the right. I don't unfortunately have a picture of the liquor store.
Beautiful cafe in the front corner, and this is one of three dining rooms in the store. Wegmans has always been amazing as far as dining, but I do believe the quality has declined as well as the selection, and Wegmans seems to be overly sure that prepared foods in supermarkets are done for with the coronavirus.
Here we have the deli and prepared foods departments in the first part, right side, of the grand aisle. The burger bar, seating area, and the liquor store are to the right here.
Seafood and butcher, along with packaged meats, in the back corner here. Cheese is in an island opposite this area.
...and deli is on the back wall...
Now let's head into the produce department.
And the bakery department lines the right side of the produce department, with the deli aisle behind it.
The bakery department is interesting here because it's quite extensive, but it's set up linearly so that it extends basically the entire depth of the produce department.
Self-service cases in an island up at the front of the bakery near the entrance.
And now, let's head in to the grocery aisles! As we can see, the store is enormous...
The front half of the first few aisles is health and beauty with the pharmacy facing.
You know something? After all these years, I've still never done a big weekly shopping at a Wegmans. I've bought things here and there, but never a big order. I've been very satisfied with those products I have bought there, though.
A model train, of course, welcomes us to the dairy department on the back wall!
Frozen foods are in aisle 6, which is roughly halfway across the grocery aisles but way to the left of the store.
And that's something that's really interesting about this space -- it's well over 100,000 square feet but has only 16 grocery aisles. Now not only are they very long aisles, but the grocery aisles also only take up a small amount of the store's sales floor space.
And here in the last few aisles we have the Family Pack section where large bulk packages are displayed...
Let's wrap up with a look across the expansive front-end...
That's all for this Wegmans, and it'll be a while before we see another Wegmans but we have so many other interesting stores to see! So let's head east on route 10 again just one more small interval to see two former supermarkets on Grocery Archaeology tomorrow!
I think Wegmans was losing interest in their hot bars before the pandemic. Selection of interesting options were eliminated over the years while pizza, chicken wings and fries began to appear. When they remodeled their store in Dewitt (the top store in the chain), the extensive hot bars were drastically reduced. Seemed like they were trying to move customers more to their in-store restaurants rather than than the bars. And if I remember correctly, some "hot food" items were cold, waiting to be taken home to be heated up.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Wegmans prepared foods have not been impressive lately in general. I stopped by the Downingtown location on my way back from the Lancaster County area back in 2019 for dinner and was very surprised to see how little choice there was.
DeleteI'm impressed with your ability to get away with taking pictures in a Wegmans. The one and only time I ever tried, I was thrown out of the store.
ReplyDeleteYeah, who knows why but nobody seems to notice or care in my experience.
DeleteMy secret was to never really look at the screen while I was taking a photo! Plus I would hold something in my other hand like a circular or roll of paper towels to play with to distract attention from the phone. In all my years of photo taking, I never once got busted. Did have an incident at the Willingboro ACME where I was approached by an employee and asked if I needed help. I was then followed around the store. Still... got all the pictures I needed!
DeleteYeah, I always carry a circular if there is one... I like the roll of paper towels!
DeleteThis is not an easy store to get to unless you are familiar with the area. One thing that could be quite confusing is that there is a Wegmans sign on Route 10 (near where Ridgedale Avenue intersects the street), yet the supermarket remains completely out of sight, and no roadside directions are provided!
ReplyDeleteThough this might seem to be an awful location, the store is visible off Route 287 (as you mentioned). And this Wegmans is convenient for the people who work at one of the many nearby office buildings.
--A&P Fan
Yeah, I think it's actually a really good location for those reasons. There's clear signage out on route 10, so people know where to enter and once you're on the entrance road, there's not many ways to go wrong. The visibility from 287 helps for brand building and general knowledge, too.
DeleteWegmans eliminated the hot bars at the start of the pandemic. Only now are they starting to bring back limited selections (soup bar, wing bar). Everything else they are now doing as made to order or premade. Part of the decision to permanently discontinue the other hot bars also was likely due to the amount of food waste they had in a given day.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've seen that more recently and it's very disappointing, although I certainly understand the concern about food waste. I still miss them!
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