Wegmans opened its 100th supermarket on Sept. 29, entering North Carolina, it's seventh state. It's Wegmans first store in the state.
The Rochester-based supermarket chain opened a 104,000-square-foot store in the Midtown East Shopping Center in Raleigh, N.C., which will employ 475 people. The company has plans to open five more in the Tar Heel State -- two in Cary and one each in Holly Springs, Chapel Hill and Wake Forest.
Along with Wegmans’ signature European-style open-air market look, the Raleigh store will feature The Burger Bar, which the chain describes as a “family-friendly, casual restaurant counter that serves delicious burgers, fresh salads, flavorful sandwiches, kids meals, soup, sides, and beer and wine by the glass.”
After peddling fresh produce from a pushcart, John Wegman started the company in 1916 when he opened the Rochester Fruit & Vegetable Company. His brother Walter joined him a year later.
Still owned and managed by the Wegman family, the supermarket chain has grown into one of the largest private companies in the U.S., with 49,000 employees and annual sales of more than $9 billion.
It has 99 other stores -- 46 in New York (including eight in the Syracuse area), 18 in Pennsylvania, nine in New Jersey, 12 in Virginia, eight in Maryland and six in Massachusetts. On Oct. 27, it will open its first store in New York City, in Brooklyn.