![]() ![]() Ferrera, who works out of the Princeton store, models the behavior he hopes to instill in employees. The chain takes pain to train its employees to handle customers, even the unpleasant ones, with care, based on such sentiments as a sign on the office wall of Mark Ferrera, a senior vice president: ''Treat others as you would like to be treated.'' And child care is offered at no charge, in colorful, well-equipped playrooms. Holders for coffee cups hook over the shopping carts for the latte just bought at the convenient coffee bar (coffee sipping and grocery shopping now go together like hot dogs and baseball). Wegmans also shines in the realm of customer service, where it is often the little things that count. Hermé's supervision are sold in Wegmans stores. There are also doughnuts, sourdough baguettes, cheese rolls and a signature French toast bagel. Pierre Hermé, a Frenchman who was once called the Picasso of Pastry in Vogue magazine, has trained bakers to create tartes, individual pastries and macaroons. And the cookware and housewares section is more than amply stocked. ![]() ''They even have an entire aisle of cat collars,'' Mrs. ''And the cheese lady knows her stuff.''Įvery section feels bigger than the equivalent in other stores: the D'Artagnan products, the loose candy, the teas, the frozen foods, the seafood and the kosher baked goods, kosher meat and kosher deli counter. ''The cheese counter is nirvana,'' said one shopper, Debbie Klastkin of Mountain Lakes, who travels about 40 minutes to the Bridgewater store. Its cheese section alone includes 400 specialty types. Shop-Rite seems ubiquitous, with 117 stores, and Kings has expanded to 27 locations, while Acme remains popular, mostly in South Jersey, with 62 stores.Īs for products, Wegmans carries more than 60,000 items as compared with 40,000 at other stores and displays them as if for a photo shoot. Whole Foods has opened six stores in the state over the last seven years. New Jersey shoppers have many choices when it comes to groceries. He added, ''It's the store where I take my relatives and out-of-town visitors to show them the best of the food industry.'' But Wegmans has a very different culture in that their model is not static and they are always interested in learning, teaching and improving.'' ''Most people in the grocery business see themselves as mass distributors of other people's food. ![]() ![]() ''Wegmans really cares about food,'' said Neil Stern, an industry analyst. Supermarket News ranked the chain only 35th in revenue last year among the 75 heaviest hitters in the grocery business - Wal-Mart, with 1,243 stores, was No.1, with revenue of $95 billion, while Wegmans had about $3 billion - but its impact is profound. Think Shop-Rite outfitted with a lavish food court, mix in some elements from Whole Foods, Zabar's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, put the whole thing on steroids, and you have Wegmans. ![]()
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