Wegmans opened its Natick, Massachusetts, store early Sunday morning, April 29. It’s a new store format for the company—a two-story supermarket with the second floor dedicated to fresh foods, including three restaurants—and is located in Natick Mall.
Dining options on the second floor include The Burger Bar and Buzz Coffee Shop; Blue Dalia Restaurant & Tequila Bar opens Friday, May 4. Fresh departments located on the second floor include fresh produce, bakery, seafood, meat, cheese, deli and charcuterie, catering and a floral shop.
The store’s central atrium on the first floor features a cart-conveyor system with an adjacent escalator to help customers to navigate between floors; elevators and stairs are located by the main entrance. The parking deck across from the store’s main entrance has 1,800 spaces. An enclosed walkway leads customers directly into the second floor of the store.
The 146,500-s.f. location is among the family-owned company’s largest stores.
Natick Store Manager Rich Boscia said, “This store is a unique space that looks unlike anything we’ve done before. Every decision was made with our customers in mind.
“This is a beautiful place to visit for anything from a cup of coffee and a snack to a full grocery shop or a memorable dinner at Blue Dalia,” Boscia added. “Apart from the look of the store, what may surprise people most is our combination of quality, incredible service and low prices. We want to be the place where families, business people, mall shoppers and the community gather.”
The ground level encompasses natural foods, grocery, dairy, bulk and frozen items, along with health and wellness, home and entertaining and an selection of wine, liquor and beer. The spacious layout offers nearly 70,000 items, more than 3,000 of which are organic.
The store has 550 full- and part-time employees, with more to be added.
“We’ve brought together a terrific team, and we’re still hiring for available full-and part-time opportunities,” Boscia said.
In preparation for the opening, new employees had been training for as long as six months at other Wegmans stores in Massachusetts.
Wegmans deliveries by Instacart began May 2 at the Natick store. The store is open seven days a week, 6 a.m.-midnight.
Rochester, New York-based Wegmans Food Markets is a 96-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts.
