Last edited Tue Mar 31, 2026, 04:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Our son went to college in Rochester, NY, the home of Wegmans. Having one nearby was a religious experience for him.

Lots of higher education opportunities in Rochester.

Whenever we visited, we went to the Pittsford Wegmans, which had a cheese cave.
When they opened the Wegmans in Brooklyn, we went for opening day in the pouring rain. There were dozens of kids from colleges upstate. They all were wearing their sweatshirts.
But they were absolutely crestfallen when there was no sub shop.
They subsequently added one. The Long Island store had a sub shop at open, although the term of art here is hero,.not sub.

When it opened in Niagara Falls, it was high end and beautiful. There was beautiful produce and a great selection of all manner of goods. Now, years later, it and the one I visited last year in Binghamton are sad, rather grubby shells. The produce was old and plastic-wrapped and the selection of everything - with the exception of their meat and specialty cheese - was not a quarter of what it used to be. Almost everything was Wegman's own brand. The pasta was monolithically Wegman's own. It was a real shock.

It's weird to me that in Maine our grocery stores can have better fresh produce than in New York. Although, to be fair, people don't cook from fresh rhe way I grew up with. Long long ago.

We don't have Wegman's here in the northernmost east coast. The rural area in Central New York where some of my family lives has lost so many stores. It feels like a food desert to me now. Their Price Chopper is massively depressing.

There are 3 decent chain grocery stores in my small Maine city, population 22,000, with two in the next town. Hannaford dominates, with one Shaw's and an IGA for the competition. An Aldi's just opened in Portland, an hour away, to great excitement. (Not mine.) I generally go to Trader Joe's when I make the trip to the big city, but that's for treats.

I still get most of my produce from the local farmer's market - year round. It's such a luxury.

They aren't all corporate, so the standards may be different.

I grew up in Rochester, and we always shopped at Wegmans. I am back in the area 1-2 times a year, in the Finger Lakes, and we always stop at the huge Wegmans in Pittsford. You could spend a whole day just in the cheese section.