Manhattanites have long awaited the first Wegmans supermarket in the New York City borough, the second in New York City after a Brooklyn location opened several years ago. Now, they can shop a large selection of fresh, convenient and grab-and-go prepared food as well as groceries with the opening of the chain’s Astor Place location.
Part of an expansion initiative in the metro New York area, Wegmans developed the store for the neighborhood and even includes a service charcuterie counter and a champagne-oyster bar that operate in addition to Wegmans’ renowned in-store bakery, deli and foodservice operations.
However, anyone expecting the kind of expansive housewares presentation available in a Wegmans full-sized store will instead find a heavily curated assortment, mainly consisting of kitchen tools and tabletop items.
Certainly, the neighborhood explains the choices made, which includes a couple of colleges, apartments, offices, taverns, restaurants and lots of tourists taking in the Greenwich Village sites including legendary St. Mark’s Place, just across from Wegmans Astor Place location. The building housing the store has history itself, once home to Wannamaker’s Department Store and, much later, one of two Kmarts operating in Manhattan.
At 87,500 square feet, the store is among the smallest in the chain. The Brooklyn Wegmans, at 74,000 square feet, is the chain’s smallest location. However, Brooklyn has a wider selection of home goods, with a more residential neighborhood surrounding the store, which operates in a small mixed-use center. As such, it lacks the walk-by traffic that Astor Place generates and the office worker and tourist customers looking to grab a meal or snack.
Another detail to consider: According to Wegmans, more than half of sales in Brooklyn are generated from online orders. Manhattan will also provide delivery in as little as an hour from ordering and the website associated with the Astor Place location includes a far more abundant assortment of home goods available for delivery than the store.
