The Death of a Wegmans

As many people living in Rochester know, the Britton Road Wegmans (corner of Dewey and Britton) is closing its doors at the end of this month. This store was opened in the early 1980s and before that Wegmans had a location in the next plaza over (Northgate) from the 1950s. Now Walmart is moving into the Northgate Plaza and Wegmans is leaving Dewey Avenue.

What was a bustling store just two  months ago has been clearanced and picked over. It is only a shell of its former self. 

This was one of the last remaining Wegmans locations which had the old school footprint: cheese station at the entrance, beer and soda in the back right hand corner, and frozen meats at back center store.

For many western New Yorkers Wegmans is a symbol of local drive, spirit, and success. Walmart is a sign of lowering property values.

Wegmans is constantly rated on of the Fortune's top 5 companies to work for. Walmart doesn't even make the list. They also hardly ever promote women and forbid unionization.

When people visit Rochester, they specifically seek out state of the art Wegmans stores to experience why people from this area don't hate grocery shopping. Walmart makes people hate grocery shopping. Seriously. Don't grocery shop there, you will be angry.

So, although Wegmans didn't mention the arrival of Walmart as the reason they are closing the Britton Road Wegmans, this okapi feels differently. I know that many shoppers from this store will travel down to the beautiful, amazing, spacious Mt. Read location, but the historic Britton Road location shouldn't have had to die a premature death from the Walmart plague.