The Wegmans Quandary (Rochester, Greece, Webster: city hall, rental, home)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You know, for all the good things that Wegmans does well, they've graced the Rochester landscape with the ugliest store facades ever anywhere.
For decades, we've been cursed with that droopy, heavy, flat, brown Seventies frontage with signage that looks like Grandpa cut it out in the back yard. And it stayed and stayed and stayed that way for years and years.
I just passed a new Wegmans in Maryland with the new logo, and the store is a new design. One would think that it would just have to be an improvement.
But believe it or not, it's worse -- a breathtakingly ridiculous combination of the worst features of McMansions and the castles of Disney Princesses.
These building can't possibly be designed by professional designers. They have to be being designed by some clueless high-level exec who thinks he's qualified to design something. Or somebody's eight-year-old daughter or closeted girlfriend or boyfriend. Even as bad and as silly as building design is today, where it's just Colorforms on a computer screen and anyone can do it, it's unbelievable that a crack organization like Wegmans could let something like this happen.
I think pretty much any retail design is ugly and tacky... not just wegmans. I haven't seen many retail facades outside of stores that use historic buildings that are visually appealing
I really like the style of the newer mt read store in greece. I agree the old one that was there and many of the stores that were built in the 7os look very outdated but the newer stores like the ones in Webster and pittsford look fine.
^^^ +1, I was going to mention the Mt Read Wegmans as being one of the nicer looking ones. While the store inside is a disaster and not doing as well business-wise as Wegmans had hoped (and people are still going to the older, better laid out Britton Rd store due to this), the outside is pleasing to look at. I'm just not a fan how it's up against the road facing sideways, instead of being farther back in the lot facing the road.
For anyone not familiar with it, this is what it looks like:
^^^ +1, I was going to mention the Mt Read Wegmans as being one of the nicer looking ones. While the store inside is a disaster and not doing as well business-wise as Wegmans had hoped (and people are still going to the older, better laid out Britton Rd store due to this), the outside is pleasing to look at. I'm just not a fan how it's up against the road facing sideways, instead of being farther back in the lot facing the road.
For anyone not familiar with it, this is what it looks like:
Britton Rd. is a decent store, and I remember when it opened. It was the first to have a video rental section.
The new Mt. Read store isn't doing all that well, eh? We made a visit before leaving Rochester the summer it opened, and thought it was nice but a bit over-done for the demographics of the area. The old store was actually a Chase-Pitkin many years ago, according to locals who lived around there in the 60's. Something to the effect of they switched places after C-P was bought out by Wegmans, or something like that, and the then-"new" store got the typical Wegmans 70's layout and look (lots of brown and orange). There was a small bank inside the store, a Lums restaurant on the far end, the C-P, and a liquor store.
Whenever we were in Greece or Gates we'd drop in at the Lyell or W. Ridge Rd. stores for stuff.
Ugh, agreed, the little tower thing is a bit over the top. I do think some towns tell chain stores, to some degree, how they have to look. Which would account for the blandness.
I really don't have a problem with the old-school Weggies. There's something kind of comforting about rolling past one, like, "Yeah, I'm in my hometown." The older stores also feel a little more down to earth.
You guys have really not paid much attention to other Grocery Chains then.... although, I do know living in Rochester , that Wegman's is pretty much all over the city.... with a few other smaller chains here or there.
We are from Rochester, but lived in the Mid-Atlantic for many years now. We have GIANT,FOOD LION,SUPERFRESH, WEIS,REDNERS MARKETS, WHOLE FOODS & TRADER JOES and a few others.... Wegman's included (just not close enough for us, unfortunately!) but I can tell you, these stores facades are not any better. Food Lion is a joke in general. Facade,interior design, food,customer service,etc... horrible.
my wife refused to shop at Food Lion when we lived in NC after we saw flies landing on the meats in the deli display case. And yeah, the facade was nothing to write home about that's for sure.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
). There was a small bank inside the store, a Lums restaurant on the far end, the C-P, and a liquor store. 
