Prince George’s County foodies, it’s time to step it up.
With the planned Sunday opening of a Wegmans upscale supermarket in Lanham, county officials and observers say the oft-overlooked jurisdiction now has a chance to prove it can support high-end retail.
“It shows … that the county has the income and the prestige to support a quality retailer and it should [show] other retailers that Prince George’s is open for business,” said Kwasi Holman, president and CEO of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp.
While neighbor Montgomery County supports five Whole Foods Markets and three Trader Joe’s supermarkets, Prince George’s has zero. And it’s not just food — even with the success of the National Harbor waterfront development in Oxon Hill, luxury retailers such as Nordstrom and Bloomingdales have skipped over the county. But officials hope to change that mentality with the arrival of Wegmans. According to consultants, they have good reason to think that.
Wegmans has “a top-notch research department and probably put more research into [each] store than any company I know of,” said David J. Livingston, a consultant and owner of DJL Research. “They don’t build a store unless they think it’s going to be a home run.”
Jo Natale, a spokeswoman for Wegmans, said the chain puts three to five years of research into each new store and therefore opens only two or three a year. Key criteria include median income, education, population density and access to major highways and transit.
Lanham, according to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau data, has a median household income of $77,390 — more than $7,000 higher than the county average. Nearby Mitchellville, one of the wealthiest black communities in the country, has a median household income of $84,687, according to recent census data.
“Ultimately, it’s, ‘Can we bring something unique to the market? Is what we have to offer different than what’s currently available to the people that live there?'” Natale said. “We’ve certainly seen that as true for Prince George’s County.”
Wegmans has five locations in Northern Virginia and six more are planned for the region, including one in Germantown.
Competitors had better beware. Most grocers take a 10 to 15 percent hit in business after a Wegmans opens nearby, according to Livingston.
Within five miles of the new location in the Woodmore Towne Centre at Glenarden are two Shoppers Food Warehouses, two Safeways and two Giant Food stores.
“Obviously we expect there to be some curiosity factor,” said Craig Muckle, Safeway’s spokesman. “But from our experience, when we open stores we also tend to pull traffic away from people — it’s human nature.”
Wegmans is one of four anchor stores opening in a new development just outside the Capital Beltway near FedEx Field. Best Buy opened there last month, Costco plans to open next week and J.C. Penney is scheduled to open in the spring.
