The new Wegmans grocery stores opened this weekend in Lanham with a bang — at least 1,500 people were anxiously waiting Sunday morning for the high-end mega market to open its doors to customers, according to reports.
While scoring what many call one of the top grocery store chains in the country is a coup for the county, Wegmans isn’t just serving the immediate area (and its median household income of $77,000).
On of the key components of Wegmans’ site selection is major highway access, said the company’s spokeswoman, Jo Natale. The Prince George’s County Wegmans is just off the Capital Beltway, one mile north of FedEx Field.)
“We tend to draw within a much larger radius than a typical regional store would,” Natale said.
Natale also noted the fact the Prince George’s scored a Wegmans before Montgomery County — where grocers like Whole Foods and Trader Joes have flocked -— is more a circumstance of timing than anything else.
“It’s often just a matter of — these are large projects, large developments and often have a complex approval process and timing,” she said. “It’s not a question of choosing to go forward with one instead of the other. It’s always a question of where we can get things going first.”
