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Wegmans - Fredrick????

  • h

Joe - In your most recent post you mentioned a Wegman's in Fredrick. I could not find any Wegmans in Maryland on their Website.

I live in Montgomery County and have not yet made the trek.

By the way, how is there selection of sausage? I have been looking for without success, I know of the Italian gourmet in Vienna that sometimes has it. A gourmet sausage that is pork and stuffed with cheese, it is thinner than most and comes in very long "rounds", like a pinwheel.

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  1. I'm sorry but I meant that Frederick was just around the corner figuratively. However.....it would definitely be consistent with Wegman's philosophy, in my opinion, to open a store in Frederick. While they've only officially announced Hunt Valley and Fairfax they say they are looking for other locations. Considering their supply chain Frederick is, indeed, logical as is northern Montgomery County. But here is the other consideration: a store in , say Germantown, may preclude a store in Frederick. I would also see them given serious consideration to the area around Potomac Mills as well as one other store in suburban Baltimore.

    I haven't fcused on sausage other than noting there is a great deal of variety. Overall this is,by far, the most complete meat market I have seen in any grocery store anywhere. It is actually more than this since several counters definitely have an old fashioned butcher shop type of ambience.

    It is worth the trip from Frederick, by route 15 which is much shorter than 270.

    13 Replies
    1. re: Joe H.

      I sent an email to Wegmans right after they announced the NoVa store, asking about a potential Montgomery County store.

      They actually responded back with a very pleasant, and obviously non-form-letter response. Now, they could have been pulling my chain, of course, but they said they have no current plans for expansion in the DC area other than the stores already announced.

      1. re: Daniel K

        I was just there this morning and overheard one of the employees (a manager looking type) say that they had an option on a piece of property in Gaithersburg but that it may be several years before they build there, if ever.

        1. re: bilrus

          I have it on good authority that a store in Rockville was at least in the conceptual stage at one time, but I don't have anything to indicate that it is still under active consideration. It is hard to believe that a store in Montgomery County wouldn't do well. One problem of course is to get it developed in MoCo's generally anti-business ("so-called "smart growth") environment. We can only hope that the sales data from the current store, coupled with the census they are surely taking of DC and MD plates in the parking lot, will help convince Danny that this idea is a bright blip on the radar screen and needs to be taken seriously.

          1. re: johnb

            How would they deal with the ridiculous Mo-Co wine situation? A large section of their store (and their business, I would guess)is their wine shop.

            1. re: zora

              There was an article in a Rochester newspaper that said that when Wegman's was buying land for its Virginia stores, it also tried to purchase property in Silver Spring, but the town put the kibosh on it. I assume the reason was that the town thought it couldn't handle the heavy traffic the store would have attracted. This is going to be a problem in building a Wegman's anywhere.

              1. re: Arista

                Silver Spring is not a "town." It is an unincorporated portion of Montgomery County. I doubt that there is enough undeveloped land in the Silver Spring portion of Montgomery County to build a Wegman's the size of the one near Dulles. This is not to say that the Montgomery County government has not put up an impediment. Surely, Rockville, which prevented Costco from putting up a "box store" would oppose a Dulles sized Wegman's.

                1. re: Skipper

                  I agree with you about Silver Spring where I grew up when it was the "second largest city in Maryland." I even testified before the MNCCPPC in support of Lloyd Moore back in the early '80's. I would not have been surprised in Wegmans had looked at, say, Burtonsville which has/use to have a Silver Spring mailing address. This would be logical since it would still pull from Columbia and have decent I 95 access while close enough for the population density of eastern Montgomery County. The demographics are also probably acceptible. I think anything closer in east of Rock Creek park or south of Shady Grove (even Germantown, really) is an impossibility considering how much land they need. In any event they're only doing about two or three stores a year and are committed for several years out. One of the things that surprised me was the large percentage of employees in the Dulles store who came in from other stores to help them in their first month of opening.

                  Wegmans is as well managed as any company in any industry that I have seen. I also understand the Dulles store did $600,000 on opening day.

              2. re: zora

                You are exactly right, Zora. The lack of wine/beer sales in Maryland grocery stores has got to be a detriment to any large chain such as Wegman's to even consider moving into Maryland. I hear my parents rave about the wine choices at CostCo in Ohio. Yet the one here in Frederick can't sell wine. I can't wait to go to Ohio with my CostCo card! What are the chances of changing this law in Maryland though? Maybe slot machines in grocery stores? Then wine?

                1. re: Liz

                  Wegmans is based in New York State, one in which wine and liquor sales are banned in supermarkets. In Pennsylvania, alcohol is sold through quasi-governmental distributorships. Wegmans has come very far without beer and wine sales; the wine tasting room in the Dulles store is a recent development.

                  1. re: hoyamatt

                    Are you sure about that? When I lived in Rochester in the early to mid 80's beer and wine was sold in grocery stores.

                  2. re: Liz

                    You don't have to wait until you get to Ohio, just go across the river to the Costco at Pentagon City.

                    1. re: Skipper

                      If you want to go to that Costco, better bring your Hummer--you'll need it to bash your way into the parking lot. It's like a zoo out there. Save your frustration and go to one of the Costco's further out, like Sterling or someplace. No need to go to Ohio tho.

          2. re: Joe H.
            Lisa Stormont

            There is talk of one in Columbia if the zoning is approved!

          3. I understand they are building a Wegmans in Frederick at Rt 15 and Rt 26. Remember seeing it in the Frederick paper but have forgotten the timeframe. I believe the plan is to build the Wegmans and the other anchor (forgot which one) first and then the rest of the stores.

            1. There is a Wegman's in Maryland in Hunt Valley. A bit of a drive from Frederick. There are also persistent rumors of a Wegman's going into Columbia on or near the current site of Apple Ford. Wegman's backed out of that site once before after facing "community oppostion", but I think a lot of that was an astroturf campaign by local grocery store chains. Everyone I talk to would love a Wegman's in Howard County.

              1 Reply
              1. re: yellojkt

                In talking to various folks Wegmans is still interested in locating in Columbia at the Snowden River/Macgaw road site where The Wire Studios are. There are still obstacles and the elections in Novemeber would affect making this possible.

              2. Yes, merg01 is correct -- hopefully mid-2008 opening in Frederick and later (2009) for Landover and Anne Arundel County sites.

                Article in the Frederick paper was from late June:


                1. More is always better, but - What is the story on the Largo Wegmans? Are they still putting a store there?