In my visits to Pennsylvania, one of the experiences everyone should do is a shopping trip to Wegmans Supermarket. It is a chain of grocery stores in the Mid-Atlantic region. They have the best and biggest selection of food I have ever seen. It is an amazing experience – do not go when you are hungry. An article in the Atlantic, gives a good description of the business.
Our first visit to Wegmans, however, ended in disaster. Both Owen and Ollie had a virus that caused them to vomit profusely. It struck just after a meal there (they have a restaurant). It eventually led to Oliver visiting the emergency room to get some anti-vomiting medicine after 12 episodes.
Below is an excerpt from the article. I recommend a visit to Wegmans for anyone visiting the Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, New Jersey) region.
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…
High volume, according to company executives. The chain’s stores are enormous – usually 80,000 to 120,000 square feet – larger than a typical Whole Foods and roughly double the size of a traditional supermarket. And they feature a dizzying array of 70,000 products, nearly twice the number available in a standard grocery store. Across the East Coast, Wegmans supermarkets have the highest average daily sales volumes in the industry.
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