Applauding the Geniuses at Wegmans

If you haven’t already heard, Wegmans announced this week that a Brooklyn location is in the works.

Now, if you’re not from upstate New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Virginia (their other locations), you may not understand the gravity of the situation.

wegmans

Every year, different media rank supermarkets. Just this Wednesday, The Washington Post tagged it as “the best supermarket in the U.S.” Annually, Consumer Reports ranks it number one and even CBS News went so far as to call Wegmans the “best company in the world” in 2011.

With all this praise, you’d imagine people must run, not walk, to a nearby store. In fact, this latest addition might just get New Yorkers to that far-off place called Brooklyn.

Buzz Bin photo 5.14

And if that isn’t reason enough, I have three more that prove the Brooklyn move is a marketing coup.

  1. Convenient for Consumers. Despite the fact that you’ll find a Fairway in Red Hook and a Whole Foods in Gowanus, the Navy Yard location will offer manhattanites a quick trip across the Brooklyn Bridge. It’ll be like the Target of Brooklyn… except you won’t need a car to get to it.
  2. Just the Beginning. There isn’t another test market like Manhattan, which is the reason why so many New England chains… stay in New England. Or maybe it’s just the Red Sox vs. Yankees rivalry. Either way, if you can hack it in NYC, and I suspect Wegmans will, you can bet there’ll be a larger expansion plan in store (no pun intended).
  3. Good PR. Wegmans continually receives positive publicity, but already this news has spread like wild fire. The company will have numerous stories to tell, whether it’s the revitalization of the historical Navy Yard, the positive economic effects of the introduction of jobs or the real estate/design angle that’ll wow the press. Any media relations lovers like me will be clamoring to get a piece.

wegmans2By reading this you may assume that I’m an upstater by heart, who grew up with a Wegmans nearby. Not the case here. After trying it once near family in Buffalo, I was hooked.

Next time you’re here (in 2017), try it. You’ll be hooked too.

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