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With Wegmans, Woodbridge Gets Its Taste Of Upscale
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The opening is not without risk. The grocer is moving forward at a time when others have retrenched. Two Giants in Woodbridge have closed in the past year due to slow sales.
The community's support was a key reason the store was opening during an economic downturn, said Mark Ferrera, a senior vice president for Wegmans, which is based in Rochester, N.Y. "A lot of it is based on how important it is to the town."
Some 100 tons of produce will arrive in the coming week. The store will open with a sushi bar, a combined coffee shop and bakery, and a salad and sandwich station. Combined indoor and outdoor seating will be available for more than 500 people.
The company is putting on some special touches for opening day. The seafood bar will feature Wianno oysters, the Massachusetts variety that won the Old Ebbitt Grill annual Oyster Riot last fall. For a local touch, Chincoteague Salt Oysters from Chincoteague Island in Virginia will also be shucked and prepared to order.
In the cheese section, 15 wheels of 80-pound Parmigiano imported from the Po River region in Italy will be cracked by hand. Some 3,150 varieties of wine are already in the store's 8,000-square-foot wine area, from a 2006 Chrysalis Viognier from Middleburg for $27.99 to a 1982 Chateau Latour from the Pauillac Bordeaux region of France that runs a cool $2,599.
How such fare will be received in Woodbridge remains to be seen. But shopping centers in the county anchored by grocery stores have held up in the county despite the fall in residential real estate values, according to Alexandria research firm Delta Associates. The vacancy rate for such retail shops dropped to 3.8 percent by the end of 2007, compared with 4.3 at the end of 2006, according to the group.
"I think that businesses are holding back right now and making careful decisions with regard to the new projects that they undertake," said Laurie C. Wieder, president of the Prince William Regional Chamber of Commerce. "We are very pleased with the Wegmans because one of the reasons they decided to move here is because we have the demographics."
