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 ...
Only trouble is they let people who drive Camrys and Buicks drive carts on Saturday Afternoon.....This is the origin of my “I Hate People” song (to the tune of “I Feel Pretty!”)
I sure miss Meijers and I love shopping there when I have a chance to go home.
I may be wrong but I think they had the "superstore" concept in place before Wally World. As a child I remember going to the toy and sporting goods section while my mom shopped for groceries and my father shopped the hardware area.
Here in NE Ohio we have Giant Eagle, Giant Eagle OR Giant Eagle. Closest Wegman’s is in Erie, PA. Wish they would open a store a few miles west in Ohio.
The Wal Marts in metro NYC and South Florida are rather surly in terms of service. Trader Joes’s and Wegman’s provide quite a nice contrast.
Seems like Meijer’s in Jackson Michigan was once the world’s largest single store of its type when it was built in the late 60s or early 70s.
There are two of them in Jackson today.
Amen, I love Meijer’s, best produce.
Trader Joes is a good place to shop, but you can fit several of them into one Wegman’s store. I visit Wegmans in State College PA when I visit my college student daughter.
At first, I thought this was the sequel to Soylant Green.
5.56mm
Wegmans’ subs.
additionally - the prices are high end ......profits are not shared with employees.....high end walmart of the east
Wow! That is great to know. Details? Maybe they could be something like Tom Monaghans (sp?)...the former Domino’s guy who has funded so many good Catholic causes and educational efforts.
the co is ruthless to vendors”
You know, I was about to post a thought, really an assumption or speculation and it was this: probably better to work FOR Wegman’s rather than WITH them...and I was about to speculate that they are probably ruthless with suppliers.
Not that I have a problem with that. To get profit, you have to squeeze somewhere. Vendors are capitalists also and they can go elsewhere, too. But that was my thought: lavish foreign trips on the cheese counter folks, but I’ll bet the cheese wholesalers aren’t enjoying any of those perks. (Which makes them not so unlike Wal Mart if you think about it.....)
Will it work longterm? I don’t know. Maybe maybe not. But always interesting to see and consider. So long as they remain profitable, I wish them well!
I’m surprised the article didn’t mention anything about Alec Baldwin. His mother famously refuses to move from Syracuse to Hollywood because she doesn’t want to give up Wegmans, and Alec volunteered to do TV commercials for the store. After his airlines antics last December, Wegmans pulled the ads because some customers complained that he was not an appropriate representative. When lots more customers complained about that decision, Wegmans put him back on the air.
Born and raised in Rochester, and Wegman’s was the grocery store to go to even back then. They’ve only improved over the years. The closest store to me is about 45 minutes west of here in Fayetteville, NY. I’ll take a ride out there every so often, then stop at the Red Robin for a bite. Although they’ve expanded to different states, they’ve never opened any stores east of Syracuse. I’ve never been able to understand that.
I agree. We have a small grocery here in town. Then a superstore was built down the road. The superstore, under the banner of health is pushing bad food choices. The little market has great meat and I can shop the perimeter, where most healthy food is, in 10 miniutes. One small cartful and there is senior pricing twice a week.
Their individual items are a few cents more, but I save lot of time and money by staying out of the maxi-stores.
Ping
Since I moved out of Buffalo, Wegman’s is one of the only things I miss. There’s one over in Jamestown about 45 mins. away, so now when I go there it’s a real treat. Not sure if it’s still true, but for years, Wegman’s was also the most profitable grocery chain in the country.
[ The Secret Sauce of Wegmans ...
Another Wegmans “secret” that’s just starting to get reported:
They have at least one cashier who’s Muslim who refuses to handle any pork products or alcohol.
She has a sign posted ar her register asking you to respect her religious views and asks you to move to another line if you’re buying any of these items.
I wonder if they’ve accommodated any other cashiers for religious reasons such as those who find contraception products offensive? ]
So if you get a Raw Vegan cashier you won’t be able to buy and meat/eggs/pasta/milk/etc.....
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