Wegmans' highly anticipated Brooklyn store will open in October

Dive Brief:

Wegmans will open its first New York City location on Flushing Avenue in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on October 27, according to a company release. The 74,000-square-foot store, located in Admirals Row, has started hiring 350 part-time positions as well as continuous recruiting for full-time positions. The store will have around 500 employees in total.
In addition to its legacy fresh and specialty offerings, including 300 cheese varieties, the store will feature a mezzanine level with a bar offering food, beer, wine, liquor and spirits. The retailer expects roughly 10,000 visitors each day at the new store location.
Wegmans opened its first mall-based location in Boston last year and has been ranked as America’s favorite grocery store for three years in a row, according to Market Force Information.

Dive Insight:

In the culinary world, Brooklyn has made a name for itself as a foodie paradise, and Wegmans' well-known foodservice options and gourmet grocery assortment should fit right in. New York City in general is also a hotbed for food delivery services like GrubHub and Seamless and an outright battleground between some of the biggest names in the game including Walmart's Jet.com, Ahold Delhaize's Peapod and FreshDirect, one of New York City's most popular online grocers.

Scooping up prime real estate in a major metropolitan city like New York is a chance to market to a wider demographic. Wegmans' 10,000 average daily shoppers give it an abundance of opportunities to cultivate customer loyalty in the Big Apple. It’s no surprise that Wegmans is adding some bells and whistles to this high-traffic location in an effort to out-compete other retailers and dazzle consumers.

With so much competition and innovation happening in the market, Wegmans stands to learn a lot from the performance of its Brooklyn location. In addition to traditional grocery players, Brooklyn is home to numerous artisan suppliers as well as unique retail spots like Precycle, a plastic-free store located in Bushwick.

Wegmans isn’t stopping its expansion plans in Brooklyn. The retailer will open five stores throughout North Carolina during 2019, marking its seventh state and its gradual move southward. It also laid plans for a potential Delaware expansion and this week it announced a new partnership with DoorDash to roll out its Wegmans Meal 2GO food delivery service to 40 stores by the end of 2019.