The New Retail Thread

awood91 said:
That's the stated reason from Wegmans, directly.

www.wegmans.com

Wegmans Natick Store to Close - Wegmans

www.wegmans.com www.wegmans.com
Click to expand...
134,000 sq ft store. Didn't have the traffic to support a store of that size. Average store size is about 51,000 sq ft, up from 42,000 sq ft in 2018. Average probably increased because of closure of smaller-sized stores.

Wegman's very recently opened a store in Northwest DC, near the Maryland line. 84,000 square feet. The store includes a café, coffee shop, and a casual restaurant
 
awood91 said:
That's the stated reason from Wegmans, directly.

www.wegmans.com

Wegmans Natick Store to Close - Wegmans

www.wegmans.com www.wegmans.com
Click to expand...
But do you know of any other closings where media have cared to include a reason in the headline? Isn't it usually just "Wegman's to close Natick store" or similar? I mean, Wegman's didn't even include the non-traditional bit in their own headline. It's in the body.
 
sm89 said:
Street view shows that it was formerly a JCPenney. Idk if it was mainly WCVB pushing this angle, but all of the "non-traditional Wegman's closing" headlines are very odd. Like, media are trying very hard to push the excuse and I'm not sure I've seen that before for a store closing.
Click to expand...
Was a Jordan Marsh before that! In fact, the labelscar was still visible until they renovated it into the Wegmans.
 
The real issue is no one thinks to go to a mall for grocery shopping even for a Wegmans. And there are logistical issues for mall shoppers to also do their grocery shopping while at the mall. Do you go before you shop at the other stores? If so, what do you do with your groceries? Leave perishables in the car while you shop? And if you go after you've already shopped at the mall's other stores, what do you do with your shopping bags while you grocery shop? Not ideal for mall shoppers either way unless grabbing just an item or two and those kinds of cutsomers can never support a grocery business. It needs massive volume to be profitable due to small margins for grocers.
 
www.nbcboston.com

Prima to open in former Legal Oysteria space in Charlestown's City Square

[This story first appeared on Boston Restaurant Talk.] Last fall it was reported that a new dining spot was planning to open in Charlestown, and it appeared to have a connection to other restaurants in the local area. Now we have learned a bit more about the place. According to a post within the...
www.nbcboston.com www.nbcboston.com

"...... According to a post within the jobs section of the bostonchefs.com site, Prima is opening at City Square, with the address indicating that it is apparently moving into the former Legal Oysteria space......"

1686752469269.png
 
BosDevelop said:
The real issue is no one thinks to go to a mall for grocery shopping even for a Wegmans. And there are logistical issues for mall shoppers to also do their grocery shopping while at the mall. Do you go before you shop at the other stores? If so, what do you do with your groceries? Leave perishables in the car while you shop? And if you go after you've already shopped at the mall's other stores, what do you do with your shopping bags while you grocery shop? Not ideal for mall shoppers either way unless grabbing just an item or two and those kinds of cutsomers can never support a grocery business. It needs massive volume to be profitable due to small margins for grocers.
Click to expand...

Having been to this particular Wegmans a few times, it was a PITA to access relative to most suburban grocery stores. It required navigating fairly deep into the mall (and even getting to the mall isn't fun), parking in a garage across a 3 lane road and either crossing that at the street level or using the elevated bridge. The layout of the store is nontraditional and it's nowhere near as easy to get groceries back to your car as the average suburban supermarket (a few of which are nearby). In short, it was just a little too much of an effort, even for a brand like Wegmans. Maybe other shoppers are combining mall trips with grocery shopping, but that wasn't the case for me.

I think it just goes to show how finicky the business is and how much the average shopper likes simplicity and routine when it comes to grocery shopping. Wegmans is extremely popular, but between a larger than typical store with a quirky layout and a less than convenient location, it'll struggle.
 
Last edited:
Lrfox said:
Having been to this particular Wegmans a few times and it was a PITA to access relative to most suburban grocery stores. It required navigating fairly deep into the mall (and even getting to the mall isn't fun), parking in a garage across a 3 lane road and either crossing that at the street level or using the elevated bridge. The layout of the store is nontraditional and it's nowhere near as easy to get groceries back to your car as the average suburban supermarket (a few of which are nearby). In short, it was just a little too much of an effort, even for a brand like Wegmans. Maybe other shoppers are combining mall trips with grocery shopping, but that wasn't the case for me.

I think it just goes to show how finicky the business is and how much the average shopper likes simplicity and routine when it comes to grocery shopping. Wegmans is extremely popular, but between a larger than typical store with a quirky layout and a less than convenient location, it'll struggle.
Click to expand...

They'd be better off finding space in Shopper's World. Kohl's is struggling, so maybe that site comes open. It would make a lot more sense.
 
Equilibria said:
They'd be better off finding space in Shopper's World. Kohl's is struggling, so maybe that site comes open. It would make a lot more sense.
Click to expand...

There is already a grocery store currently under construction in Shopper's World (an Amazon Fresh).
 
Lrfox said:
It required navigating fairly deep into the mall
Click to expand...

Not sure I understand this comment. If you park on the second floor of the garage, you can access Wegmans without ever setting foot in any other portion of the mall or even crossing any street to enter/exit for that matter. Your comment on issues with the layout of the store is accurate.
 
BosDevelop said:
There is already a grocery store currently under construction in Shopper's World (an Amazon Fresh).
Click to expand...

Yeah, but given what Amazon's been doing with brick-and-mortar lately I'd be surprised if it lasts 2 years. Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't cancelled it already. Might actually make a great space for Wegmans when Amazon offloads it.
 
BosDevelop said:
Not sure I understand this comment. If you park on the second floor of the garage, you can access Wegmans without ever setting foot in any other portion of the mall or even crossing any street to enter/exit for that matter. Your comment on issues with the layout of the store is accurate.
Click to expand...
You do have to navigate deep into the mall property to get to those garages, though. It does not directly meet either Rt. 9 or Speen St., so you have to either get there via Flutie Pass, drive behind the Macy's, or go under the "new" wing to get to it. In that sense it's properly buried, and there's not really great signage anywhere on 9 or Speen indicating that the store is even there (https://goo.gl/maps/TxTae5FRqc9RAXQf7). If it was at a strip mall or power center, there'd be recognizable branding fronting it - compare the at least corporate branded signage for the Wegmans further up Rt. 9 in Chestnut Hill (https://goo.gl/maps/PZrVBy3XJnLM5t59A). I wonder how many potential shoppers even knew it was there.
 
Equilibria said:
Yeah, but given what Amazon's been doing with brick-and-mortar lately I'd be surprised if it lasts 2 years. Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't cancelled it already. Might actually make a great space for Wegmans when Amazon offloads it.
Click to expand...

The Amazon Fresh building is not big enough. Kohls or a new building where the Airport overflow parking is could work although IIRC there were plans for some development there but I'm guessing those were shelved.
 
BosDevelop said:
Not sure I understand this comment. If you park on the second floor of the garage, you can access Wegmans without ever setting foot in any other portion of the mall or even crossing any street to enter/exit for that matter. Your comment on issues with the layout of the store is accurate.
Click to expand...

Poorly worded on my end - I meant navigating deep into the mall property. Not the mall itself. Not the end of the world, but probably enough of a deterrent for some shoppers. Others passing by may not even know it exists. I still think the idea of simply having to park in a garage (even a free one) for a grocery run is a turnoff for many suburban shoppers used to easy surface lot parking.
 
Lrfox said:
Poorly worded on my end - I meant navigating deep into the mall property. Not the mall itself. Not the end of the world, but probably enough of a deterrent for some shoppers. Others passing by may not even know it exists. I still think the idea of simply having to park in a garage (even a free one) for a grocery run is a turnoff for many suburban shoppers used to easy surface lot parking.
Click to expand...

The few times I was in that store, my instinct was that it just wasn't terribly practical to drive into the mall property, park in the garage and walk across the sky bridge into the store itself, where the items I was looking for were on multiple levels. It just didn't strike me as a good option for doing a practical grocery shop. With that said, the decision to close a "new" format store is pretty unprecedented for Wegmans. To my knowledge, they have never closed a store for under-performance that wasn't replaced by a nearby newer or larger format store.
 
Anyone who has shopped at both the Chestnut Hill Wegmans and the Natick one, know full well that the Chestnut Hill location is much more of a logistical nightmare in terms of getting in and out of the store and lot. I have shopped at each over 50 times and would take Natick over Chestnut Hill any day. Traffic on Route 9 in Natick by the mall does not back up like it does in Chestnut Hill where it can be gridlock at times going from the Brookline line to the Wellesley line.
 
BosDevelop said:
Anyone who has shopped at both the Chestnut Hill Wegmans and the Natick one, know full well that the Chestnut Hill location is much more of a logistical nightmare in terms of getting in and out of the store and lot. I have shopped at each over 50 times and would take Natick over Chestnut Hill any day. Traffic on Route 9 in Natick by the mall does not back up like it does in Chestnut Hill where it can be gridlock at times going from the Brookline line to the Wellesley line.
Click to expand...
Yes, but (as in Chestnut Hill) there are other options in Natick. Stop and Shop (2 of them counting 9/27), Target, BJ's and Walmart are all right there, with the Amazon grocery store coming. Not sure if they sell alcohol at that location, but if they do Total Wine is right on top of them.

And for much of Framingham the Northborough store isn't too far away.

I don't think the logistics at Natick are really all that bad, but if you could go to either Stop and Shop or all the others, why would you go back there? Newton works because the logistics at the Chestnut Hill Star Market also suck.
 
BosDevelop said:
Anyone who has shopped at both the Chestnut Hill Wegmans and the Natick one, know full well that the Chestnut Hill location is much more of a logistical nightmare in terms of getting in and out of the store and lot. I have shopped at each over 50 times and would take Natick over Chestnut Hill any day. Traffic on Route 9 in Natick by the mall does not back up like it does in Chestnut Hill where it can be gridlock at times going from the Brookline line to the Wellesley line.
Click to expand...
Agreed - as a shopper I prefer Natick to Chestnut Hill too (by a good margin). But Wegmans Chestnut Hill is not competing with Wegmans Natick. They’re both competing with other nearby supermarkets. And the difference is that the logistics are similar at any other supermarket in the Chestnut Hill area, so that Wegmans is not at a particular disadvantage relative to other nearby options. You deal with the same logistics going to Star Market or Whole Foods in the area. In Natick, there are several options nearby which don’t require shoppers to drive deep into the mall property, park in a garage, and utilize a sky bridge or cross several lanes of traffic. There are also more supermarket options closer to Wegmans Natick than there are to Wegmans Chestnut Hill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top