Welcome back to Retail News! Today, we have another news recap - this one is definitely an important story for those concerned of the Wegmans Food Markets brand.
Wegmans, the New York based grocery chain, known for spacious stores stocked with a number of self-serve and service amenities, announced this summer the closure of their Pub dining concept. This comes in a large part due to the coronavirus pandemic, both within its present impacts and future industry adjustment. However, store employees have also suggested that the Pub suffered from a lack of profitability prior to the lockdowns. Such extended closures would have subtracted money for the chain, which braced for another challenge in keeping prices consistently low at that time.
The discontinuation of the Pub comes after having closed in March, as part of Wegmans' plan to keep their stores open for essential shopping. Locally to this blog, the supermarket operated a Pub restaurant at their Alexandria, VA store as well as all three central Virginia locations (Midlothian, Short Pump, and Charlottesville).
The restaurant initially debuted in 2009 alongside their Collegeville,
PA store. The old-time bar concept served numerous alcohol products, as well as a variety of meals in an exquisite environment. Over the years, the concept gradually expanded, mostly
alongside new Pennsylvania stores. Wegmans had not opened a new Pub in any of their stores since 2016 (when the three aforementioned Virginia stores opened doors). The chain had pivoted to expanding their Burger Bar fast-casual brand, with most new stores featuring said concept. Expansion of the concept had also been stifled by beverage laws in certain states with Wegmans locations. Maryland forbids the sale of alcohol within grocery stores (barring some exceptions), while Massachussetts and New Jersey Wegmans operate liquor stores running on separate register systems.
Burger Bars have reopened as of late, catering to customers in various ways including dining the Amoré restaurant inside their East Avenue store in Rochester, NY is scheduled to reopen later this year. Before the coronavirus outbreak reached U.S. shores, the Blue Dalia Mexican food restaurant (inside their Natick, MA store) closed in December 2019.
While I never had a chance to experience Wegmans' Pub concept, nor visit any stores which featured this concept, I certainly admired how the chain was creative and with such an idea.
What are your thoughts on the end of Wegmans' Pub concept? Do you believe it is in the best interest of the chain to move on from such restaurants, or would you have wanted these to return following the pandemic? If you ever dined inside the Pub, how did you feel about the food, drinks, and service? Also now that some months have lapsed, what do you see happening with these Pubs - has the transition to the spaces' next tenants begun already, or do they remain in a fallow state?
Personally, I would have at least made an effort to offer meals as takeout during
the past few months (given the ubiquity of apps like Instacart and
Wegmans 2GO) or run limited operation until it is safe to normally
operate once again, after the risks of infection have receded.
That being said, thanks for reading up on this latest Retail News update! More is to come on your favorite retail stores, featuring exclusive insight and projections on the future of retail business. Stay tuned!
Since Wegmans stopped opening new Pubs in 2016, that was probably a sign the concept wasn't doing as well as the company hoped. I think the pandemic sped up the inevitable, which was Wegmans doing away with the concept. Full service dining at a grocery store is a concept that's been experimented with before, but most people probably associate grocery stores with more "grab and go" or lunch break type fare, rather than a full sit-down dining experience. I never experienced the Wegmans Pub myself, but it was an intriguing concept to play around with.
ReplyDeleteYep, it is a shame and somewhat inevitable. Interestingly, I also found that those Central Virginia stores are the last entirely new market Wegmans opened pharmacies in.
DeleteWegmans has catered to such sit down dining with the amount of prepared foods departments they have, plus the varied seating areas of theirs. It still is a shame how they staved off all of them at once too - I heard some locations actually were doing well.
I agree -- if they weren't making money before (as indicated by the employee comments and especially the absence of new Pub openings in recent years), then they certainly aren't making money now, nor is it reasonable for them to expect to make money when/if they're ever allowed to return. The uncertainty of that waiting period combined with the seemingly poor performance results in the scenario where it's easier for Wegmans just to cut their losses and move on. It's not just them however, as I believe several other stores with in-store restaurants have been doing the same thing, including Target (and my own local location).
ReplyDeleteYes, I mean, they could have easily opted for takeout. But since the Pub's about the drinks, and those can easily be found in the alcohol department.
DeleteI would like to note, the central VA market is also the last new one thus far to have pharmacies included with their stores. Those units poorly performed, so their NC/NYC stores so far lack them.