Posted on 03/27/2012 5:47:33 AM PDT by seton89
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Cashiers are barred from interacting with customers until they have completed 40 hours of training. Hundreds of staffers are sent on trips around the U.S. and world to become experts in their products. The company has no mandatory retirement age and has never laid off workers. All profits are reinvested in the company or shared with employees. A doomed Internet startup? Occupy Wall Street fantasy? Bankrupt retailer recently purchased by Walmart?
No, a $6.2 billion-a-year, 79-store-supermarket chain with cult-like loyalty among its customers. Wegmans, which operates its 79 stores in New York, Pennsylvania and four other East Coast states, shows that a business can generously train its workforce and profit handsomely.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Here in the midwest the alternative to Wally World is Meijer stores.
The prices are comparable and they go out of their way to sell local produce when they can.
great store, fantastic selection, always crowded and a bit overpriced and if you don’t pay attention, you will end up spending $50 on “a few things”, just like I do.
Two words: kobe beef
I used to go to the one near Dulles Airport. I wish they would build one up here in southern New Hampshire!
Same here. We came across Wegmans while in Rochester and loved it. The sushi is amazingly good for a carry out section in a grocery store. Yes, it’s expensive but what isn’t in NY state?
some interesting ideas in the article...I like not being publicly traded.
Clearly, a company is not going to be much greater than its people. But maintaining that culture after this generation of owners passes might prove to be a challenge. Difficult to keep employees that are treated well to think about profit, also (unless they understand that no profit = no employee benes). But that is going to be a challenge in obama’s America, and it seems like their stores are focused on pro obama places. So....it will be interesting.
(The Wegman family also are undoubtedly capitalists....yet I’d wager anything that they strongly supported obama....)
There is one in Northboro Massachusetts, thirty miles away from me in CT and we still go there once a month or so.
It’s stocked like Whole Foods, priced like Stop and Shop and the staff is pretty good. The in-store ready to eat food is so/so but otherwise the place is great.
My 90 year old grandfather has been shopping at the Wegmans in DeWitt,NY for over 30 years . He loves the place and is on a mutual first name basis with pretty much the entire staff.
My father shops at Wegmans in Canandaigua and Loves it. He states that every once in awhile, a company big wig will bag groceries for a shift to get REAL customer face to face time.
In Texas we have HEB which, in my opinion, is quite similar to Wegmans.
Just moved out of Wegmans territory about 6 months ago (NY) and have to say that it’s one of the few things I miss. Publix here in FL is a great store but it still lacks that magical element that Wegmans had. Truly the best grocery store in the country.
The Wegmans have made significant contributions to Catholic education.
I love Wegmans; I’m there sometimes two or three times a day.
Best service I’ve ever had grocery shopping, and great selection.
They go out of their way to be helpful and friendly.
I can not say enough good things about them.
They deserve the praise.
——They go out of their way to be helpful and friendly.——
I haven’t been to Wegman’s often enough to notice, but I’m guessing that it’s like Trader Joe’s.
If it’s not profit-sharing, it must be a cult.
Is there a downside to profit.-sharing in retail? It must be hard to stay motivated, otherwise.
All the incentives favor smirking.
I’ve been to the Wegmans in DeWitt, NY several times.
Nice store.
But to call it the “anti-Walmart” is idiotic. Walmart is considerably cheaper, and the people are just as nice.
According to the FEC their donations are over 80% to Dems.
Shame, but it gets them good press like this keeping prices down.
A huge Wegmans is being built here in Columbia, MD. It looks like a multi-level parking lot is being built, as well. That makes sense, because they are wedging the building between a busy expressway and a set of multi-story office buildings.
I’ll have to check it out after it opens in a few months.
Sounds a little like HEB. HEB got on my bad side over their lobby supporting sanctuary cities and against voter ID. We have 800,000 non-citizen voters according to one report.
On the other hand HEB has things like a mobile disaster kitchen. An all stainless tractor trailer kitchen reported to have cost nearly $3mm that can produce 1500 meals at a time. They brought it to the Texas fires last summer complete with a line of trucks that looked like a military convoy. People were just about worn slap out and this was one of the many acts that renewed hope. No FEDS, just people saved the day.
Only from what I have heard or read, Wegmans is very good to their people and that sure is a plus.
However, we were in one of their stores in Western NY just this last Saturday and it was a very aggravating shopping experience.
Given the size of the shopping carts and narrow aisles (some deliberately set at multiple angles with intersecting flows of traffic, there were numerous places where 2 carts simply could not pass. Without exaggeration, envision yourself with a shopping cart going against the flow of people leaving a NFL game.
Items you would expect to purchase on almost every trip were of course located at the farthest most point in the store.
Items which would logically be located in the same or nearby location were split up so more time was required to be spent in the store which of course is the game most grocery stores play.
Prices??? Nothing to write home about.
More than likely I would not return as if I want department store items I’ll go to a department store and if I want grocery items I’ll go to Tops and get $.10/gallon off gas for every $100 purchased along with the normal Bonus Card discount and most importantly not have to play bumper cars with the shopping carts.
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