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Are the Philly suburbs really all that lacking in good (or upscale) grocers? I live near DelCo so I shop there. But a friend in Mt. Airy goes to the Layfayette Hill Plymouth Meeting suburbs. If you live in the City Line Avenue area you can shop in north CelCo or MontCo. I'm not as familiar with Bucks county.
I guess if a Wegmans, Tjs or WF isn't NEAR you, it's only human to wonder why there can't be more of them. Who in their right mind WOULD WANT to have to drive 15 miles to their favorite grocery store. But upscale grocers never really are that numerous in an area, are they?
And if you're not near a Wegmans…then you may be near a JTs or a WF. OR sadly, you may not be near any of them.
The comment about Wegman's making all their money pushing their low quality, slickly packaged wegmans brand products made me think of Aldis. (yuck) and of course that's practically all Traders Joes sells ….it's own private label items.
Oddly enough the upscale food shopper is a very interesting consumer. You'd be surprised how many DO shop at places like Aldis and Save-aLot -- and also shop at places like Wegmans, TJs and WF. But I get asking the question about Wegmans. I wish one were near me too.
And I wish there was a GOOD farmer's market near me, like the one in Ardmore. My family used to shop at Produce Junction. Now, adult and single -- I just do the grocery store for product.
Are the Philly suburbs really all that lacking in good (or upscale) grocers? I live near DelCo so I shop there. But a friend in Mt. Airy goes to the Layfayette Hill Plymouth Meeting suburbs. If you live in the City Line Avenue area you can shop in north CelCo or MontCo. I'm not as familiar with Bucks county.
I guess if a Wegmans, Tjs or WF isn't NEAR you, it's only human to wonder why there can't be more of them. Who in their right mind WOULD WANT to have to drive 15 miles to their favorite grocery store. But upscale grocers never really are that numerous in an area, are they?
And if you're not near a Wegmans…then you may be near a JTs or a WF. OR sadly, you may not be near any of them.
The comment about Wegman's making all their money pushing their low quality, slickly packaged wegmans brand products made me think of Aldis. (yuck) and of course that's practically all Traders Joes sells ….it's own private label items.
Oddly enough the upscale food shopper is a very interesting consumer. You'd be surprised how many DO shop at places like Aldis and Save-aLot -- and also shop at places like Wegmans, TJs and WF. But I get asking the question about Wegmans. I wish one were near me too.
And I wish there was a GOOD farmer's market near me, like the one in Ardmore. My family used to shop at Produce Junction. Now, adult and single -- I just do the grocery store for product.
Is that sarcasm? I hope it is. Its take 15 minutes to drive a few in most of Delaware County because of the traffic.
I think Delaware County is pretty well stocked with upscale grocers and grocers in general. You have several Giants, Acmes, and Shop Rites, multiple Targets, there will be 3 Whole Foods, basically 2 Wegmans since the Malvern one is close, a Fresh Market, 2 Trader Joes, and lots of local farm and produce shops like Linvilla.
Ok 20 mins. depending on how you have to go….and ether you can use the blue route and what time of day. I think we agree, though, that wherever you are in DelCo…you have SOME kind of decent (upscale shopping within 15-20 mins? No? If you're not near the Wegmans you're near a shopRite, if you're not near a ShopRite you might be near the TJs…or you're near a Giant.
And in Collegeville. I drove to that store before the King of Prussia store opened.
I'd kill for Kroger or Meijer to come to the area, but that ain't gonna happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by selhars
Are the Philly suburbs really all that lacking in good (or upscale) grocers?
Nope. I live in Norristown - hardly a bastion of upscale-ness - and can drive 10 to 15 minutes in any direction to find either Wegman's, Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.
Quote:
The comment about Wegman's making all their money pushing their low quality, slickly packaged wegmans brand products made me think of Aldis. (yuck) and of course that's practically all Traders Joes sells ….it's own private label items.
The notion that a store's house brands are low quality is about 50 years old. Where have you been? Apparently not shopping at Aldi or Trader Joe's.
Quote:
Oddly enough the upscale food shopper is a very interesting consumer. You'd be surprised how many DO shop at places like Aldis and Save-aLot -- and also shop at places like Wegmans, TJs and WF. But I get asking the question about Wegmans. I wish one were near me too.
I shop at them all, although Whole Foods only occasionally. I just discovered that the Save-a-Lot near me carries Sugardale brand meats, which I've always preferred, so that's where I buy bacon and ham. I buy specific things at each of those stores, in addition to the produce store near my house, and Giant.
But I don't shop at Acme. The stores I've been in are dirty, understocked, and chaotic.
They are very pleasant to shop in and their layouts/produce/departments are impressive. They draw huge crowds and generally have a very positive reputation. What I hate about them is that they essentially, make all their money pushing their low quality, slickly packaged wegmans brand products. In the new store in Rochester, they didn't even sell many name brand products chosing to only stock their house brands. It's a trade off I guess and you can't really blame them. The model works well.
I'd have to strongly disagree with your assessment. Compared to the vast majority of supermarket store brands, Wegman's products are clearly superior and definitely do not convey "value brand" like virtually ever other generic brand (other notable exceptions are TJs or Whole Foods).
Marketing/presentation definitely makes Wegmans more appealing for sure, but they wouldn't continue to be so popular if they didn't have an edge on quality, as well. And certainly Philly area folks agree, or else they wouldn't have been so aggressive on expansion in the region over the past 5 years.
They never reuse space either, like an old grocery store. If they can identify an area that makes sense, they build. I lived about a mile from the new store in Rochester. They demolished their own existing building, bought another city block of existing businesses (all in beautiful old buildings) ripped it all down and put up a humongous new store with arguably, the worst parking lot design ever imagined.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81
And in Collegeville. I drove to that store before the King of Prussia store opened.
I'd kill for Kroger or Meijer to come to the area, but that ain't gonna happen.
Nope. I live in Norristown - hardly a bastion of upscale-ness - and can drive 10 to 15 minutes in any direction to find either Wegman's, Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.
The notion that a store's house brands are low quality is about 50 years old. Where have you been? Apparently not shopping at Aldi or Trader Joe's.
I shop at them all, although Whole Foods only occasionally. I just discovered that the Save-a-Lot near me carries Sugardale brand meats, which I've always preferred, so that's where I buy bacon and ham. I buy specific things at each of those stores, in addition to the produce store near my house, and Giant.
But I don't shop at Acme. The stores I've been in are dirty, understocked, and chaotic.
Kroger tried to negotiate with A&P. They might come into the area, yet. They own Harris Teeter, which is in some of Delaware. I'm more inclined to think that Publix is headed for Philadelphia. I don't see Meijer showing up on the east coast, though. I'll agree with you on that.
I'd have to strongly disagree with your assessment. Compared to the vast majority of supermarket store brands, Wegman's products are clearly superior and definitely do not convey "value brand" like virtually ever other generic brand (other notable exceptions are TJs or Whole Foods).
Marketing/presentation definitely makes Wegmans more appealing for sure, but they wouldn't continue to be so popular if they didn't have an edge on quality, as well. And certainly Philly area folks agree, or else they wouldn't have been so aggressive on expansion in the region over the past 5 years.
Welp...I have to disagree with you. I've been going g to wegmans my entire life (in rochester, they are everywhere) and the wegmans brand is the same level of quality as any other grocer house brand. The only difference is that wegmans doesn't give you the option to buy name brands.
Whatever, like I said, it's a trade off and one that doesn't keep me up at night. The stores are pleasant and laid out well. And everyone in them has a look of wonder on their faces. They'very hit a successful spot and I give em credit.
Danny Wegman , son of the founder who took over is bat**** crazy though. Wears a cape all the time. No joke.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redddog
Welp...I have to disagree with you. I've been going g to wegmans my entire life (in rochester, they are everywhere) and the wegmans brand is the same level of quality as any other grocer house brand. The only difference is that wegmans doesn't give you the option to buy name brands.
Whatever, like I said, it's a trade off and one that doesn't keep me up at night. The stores are pleasant and laid out well. And everyone in them has a look of wonder on their faces. They'very hit a successful spot and I give em credit.
Danny Wegman , son of the founder who took over is bat**** crazy though. Wears a cape all the time. No joke.
Maybe he & his cape will come to grand openings in NC!
Wegmans will probably slow down in the Philadelphia area when they enter NC. They only build so many stores per year.
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