"High-End" Supermarket Wegmans Slashes Prices To Stay Competitive
Wegmans, an "upscale" grocery chain with stores in 5 Mid-Atlantic states, is cutting prices to stay competitive during the post-Wall-Street apocalypse.
A statement on their website reads:
We are lowering hundreds of prices in anticipation of our costs dropping in the future, and we intend to bring more prices down as soon as we can. These are uncertain times, and we know our employees and customers are very concerned, and so are we. During difficult times like these, it’s okay with us if we make a little less money. And, as always, we are committed to offering the lowest price in the market on the items most important to families. We hope these savings will help you enjoy your time with family even more this holiday season.
This attitude flies in the face of the "sticky price" effect -- the tendency for retailers to hold on to higher prices even after their costs have dropped.
Wegmans says that their price reductions would save the typical family between $40 and $60 a month in grocery spending.
From the Morning Call:
The move comes as low-cost retailer Wal-Mart boasts October sales that beat expectations. The Bentonville, Ark., company promoted low-cost Doritos, frozen pizzas and flat-screen TVs to cater to customers who are spending more time at home and eating out less.
And retail analysts expect Wal-Mart is poised to grow as it retains its core customers and gains shoppers who are trading down from higher-priced stores to save money.
At Wegmans Allentown store on Thursday, Boyertown resident Cal Emerich was pleased to find that his favorite Cranberry Walnut muffins were marked down to 99 cents from more than $1 during his last trip. He shops there about once a month.
''This is wonderful,'' he said of the lower prices. ''I might make the trip more often.''
Wegmans lowers prices on hundreds of items [Morning Call](Thanks, Liz!)
Attention, Walmart shoppers! This ad is for you! Woo hoo!
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Comments:
Hooray for being in a deflationary economy. Although deflation is rather disastrous in the long term, at least now we get cheaper prices on food and gas. Also much cheaper prices on bedding and other household goods.
Wegmans had a good thing going. They get you into the store with their great selection of breads, fish and prepared foods and then gouge you on the essentials. I think it stopped working
I'm not familar with a "high-end" supermarket.
Would it be like a whole foods?
I shop at Wegmans whenever I have the chance to borrow a car to go out to the burbs, since there aren't any Wegman's in Philadelphia proper. I always thought their prices were very reasonable. Much cheaper than Acme for nearly every single item. Granted, the inside of their stores are really quite nice, and they do sell premium products -- but they're far from being like Marsh of the midwest, or Whole Foods as far as upscale "we're charging you $2.50 for a pound of red delicious apples for no reason" type pricing goes.
I mean, if reasonably priced with a nice environment = upscale, I guess that just means that Wal-Mart is "the bar" now for pricing. Hm.
@tande04: Like Whole Foods but much much better. They have the most ridiculous selection ever.
God I love Wegmans, it makes me so sad that there aren't any near where I'm living right now.
While I do miss Whole Foods, like tande04 says, Wegmans is SO much better and I'm glad to be living back in the Rochester area where I'm surrounded by so many Wegmans choices. Every store has its own personality and they truly are a part of the community.
Wegmans' prices on non-prepared items (the kind of stuff you can get at any supermarket) are already significnatly less than other places like A&P or Stop&Shop or ShopRite. This will only increase their price advantage.
Sigh, I miss living in Rochester / Ithaca, no grocery store in Texas even comes close to Wegmans. Last thing I remember though, the prices at Wegmans were pretty competitive to other non-premium grocery stores in the area. They were definitely a LOT cheaper than any of the pos grocery stores in Houston.
@Valhawk: Interesting...
King Soopers is as close as I get to anything like that. Whole Foods in itself is a far off dream...
Something much, much better doesn't even register. I don't know that I even have a frame of reference. Its like describing the concept of an all you can eat buffet to a starving person.
I miss Wegmans and their awesome meat counter and bakery because we have nothing comparable in the Chicago area. They are consistently at the top of Fortune magazine's 100 best companies to work for.
Somebody send me some of their black & white cookies!
@SecureLocation: Actually, I work at Wegmans and it is definitely the other way around. Basics like eggs, milk, yogurt, bread, canned veggies, etc. are very low compared to other markets. It's all the "fresh" stuff that they do the gouging on. (Very little is made on the actual grocery side of the store)
@Citron: I'm done with Wal-mart for food I think.
I haven't done any hard and fast pen and paper type comparison shopping but around here it doesn't seem that great a deal for a lot of things. The only thing I know I got cheaper there last time was one of those Bertoli (sp?) frozen meal kits. I'd been wanting to try it but it was around $8 everywhere else and was under $5 at wal-mart.
Everything else I'm paying the same prices for elsewhere while getting better selection and avoiding the whole "shop at Wal-mart" thing.
im not sure wegmans is "upscale." but it's definitely awesome. i had long heard western ny residents rave about wegmans. but figured they were just western ny'ers who had lived severely sheltered lives. but i have to admit that wegmans really is one of the best supermarket shopping experiences. never really did a close price comparison, so it might be a little pricier. but i don't recall any prices being truly outrageous.
@Valhawk: Yes- I went to one when I was visiting a cousin in Ithaca, and it was hands down the best US supermarket I have been in. The only downside is that their prepared foods are kind of expensive.
@nataku83: Have you tried Central Market? It's not the same as Wegmans but it's the closest I found that was comparable. I like Central Market better than Whole Foods.
Are they privately held? I'm pretty sure a publicly traded company would have shareholders that would sure not be "okay" if "we make a little less money."
@mbz32190: Yes, their milk has always been much lower than the competition's. I find sodas are almost always cheaper too.
We shop at Wegmans almost 100% but I am still seeing prices creep up on certain things, however even with that they are still cheaper than pretty much every grocery alternative where we live. The interesting thing is where I live we have a super Wal-Mart that is being opened directly across from the Wegmans so that should bring some competition and make them keep their prices in check. Even though Walmart is considerably higher priced on some items than Wegmans.
My complaints about the store is that the store is way too small to handle the amount of traffic it gets, the aisles are narrow, people are rude about blocking the aisles and not letting you through and they constantly run out of things, and they run out of exactly the things you need on exactly the day you need them. But then again these are probably complaints that apply to nearly every other grocery store.
@tande04: I don't know King Snoopers. But I think of Wegmans as a cross between a typical Frys/Krogers/Safeway/Randalls (depending on where you live) and a Whole Foods. For example, I only go to Whole Foods for the selection of fresh fish, cheese, and the prepared/take-out meals. I go to a "normal" supermarket for everything else like eggs, milk, yogurt, frozen meals, ice cream... When I lived near a Wegmans I could get EVERYTHING I needed at a Wegmans in one trip.
wegmans could run over my dog on the way to go burn down my house and i would still love them cause of the beer selection.
@rreimund: Yes, they are privately held. 66th largest privately held company in the US according to google.
But considereing how all my publicly traded companies are doing exactly jack and shit. At this point I probably wouldn't even care.
@volks73: I too live in the Rochester area, and have been spoiled by Wegmans. Every few months I make a trip to West Virginia to visit family, and usually have to make a trip to Krogers. My family then has to listen to a 30 minute rant from me about how crappy the store is compared to my local Wegmans.
"What do you mean 'there's no international section'?!"
@mbz32190: Agreed. The trouble with Wegmans has always more seemed to me that everything is so pretty there that you're tempted to buy way more than you need + stuff you don't need..
I never really thought of Wegman's as upscale, but maybe they've upgraded since I lived in the Rochester area . . . That would have been over 15 years ago.
I did, however, notice very early on that they were superior to anything we have here in the eastern part of the state.
Wegman's Cheese Section is bigger than most convenient stores. The Asian Cuisine section is bigger than the actual Asian food mart nearby.
Interesting to see a lot of Roc people posting on here today... Especially since most of it's positive. And it's also good to see that Wegmans is responding. I shop there every week, and I've noticed in the last 6 months where I used to be able to spend 30-40 bucks to get a weeks worth of necessities (the rest of the stuff we get from the Roc Public Market), it's now 50-60 bucks. I'm not hurting over it, but hell, if I can save money, I will.
@lisa1120: My area has Frys, Krogers, Randalls and Whole Foods, and I wouldn't compare any of them to Wegmans. It's just in a whole 'nother league.
Im on a pretty tight budget and with the competitors in the area wegmans cant be beat on a day to day price war. they generally dont have killer sales tho if you chose to shop multiple stores for the "sales" the money you save would probably be lost from petrol expense. Unless you live in some mystical place where 3-4 stores are all next to each other. I still dont get why no fat milk is cheaper than full fat considering it has to be processed more /me shrugs but that is a small annoyance.
@tande04: I've purchased fresh foods at Walmart a couple of times. Even though it is a bit cheaper, it's a waste of money in the long run. The food usually rots within a day or two, whereas comparable fruits / veggies from Kroger last more like a week or two.
@lisa1120: Yeah, it's just not the same. Plus, it's pretty expensive and I live south of town so there aren't any near me. Right now my store of choice is a Kroger about a mile from my house.
@volks73: Except that they're basically abandoning every store in the city limits of Rochester in search of higher profits per square foot.
Don't get me wrong, I still shop at Wegmans, but both of the stores I used to shop at on a regular basis (Mt. Hope and Brooks-Chili) have been shut down, which has left me slightly bitter towards them...
My general rule when it comes to Wegmans is that when I look at the weekly circular, if I can find about $10 of items (on sale) that I need to buy, and beat the prices of the competitors (yes, I compare circulars) I'll go to Wegmans. Same with Whole Foods. I've been finding as I do this that I get more deals from the grocery stores I usually go to (regular, non "upscale" ones) than Wegmans because Wegmans doesn't always advertise the basics. I have to keep the prices of the basics in mind and calculate that into my $10 mark.
@nataku83: I had the same shell shock when I moved to Houston - no Wegman's, and Kroger was a poor substitute. Central Market has good produce, but is really really expensive...
I don't think Wegman's is "High-End." That means "overpriced." Sure Weg's has tons of effette overpriced stuff but what sets them apart is that the regular stuff is competitively priced and the store-brand stuff is quite cheap.
Love them.
@jamar0303: OMG, I know what you are talking about! The Ithaca one is amazing, also 24 hours.
I have three words for you: Chicken Presto Sandwich.
I miss Wegmans! I don't think any of the grocery stores in the Atlanta area even come close, whenever I go home to Syracuse my first stop on the way back from the airport is at Wegmans
@nataku83: Yeah thats another part of my problem I think.
I've heard that Wal-Mart's milk prices can't be beat but I'll be damned if I can convince myself that buying milk from Wal-Mart is a good idea. Don't know why. Logically speaking its probably a really good place to buy milk from 'cause I'm sure they go through it fast enough that you're more likely to get fresh. Just doesn't click for me for some reason. Produce is the same way. Eggs and meat from Wal-mart was on my "no go" list but I broke down the other day and bought some there. Couldn't complain about the quality or shelf life though. Its back on the "no go" list now because I found I can get those items cheaper elsewhere.
@lisa1120: King Soopers is just the mountain states branding of Krogers. Its my version of upscale just because they have a larger organic/vegitarian selection than any other place around here.
I don't really have anything that has prepared food on the scale of Whole Foods (or Wegmans from what it sounds).
Wegmans is the best supermarket (and one of the best shopping experiences in general) ever! Everyone thinks their prices MUST be more expensive because they are "high end" but in actually, I've found great prices their. And their store brand products (cereal and the like)are great.
@yungjerry703: I wish we could buy beer at grocery stores. Stinkin' Pennsylvania antiquated liquor laws.
@kitykat70: Me too! I moved from Syracuse to Charlotte about 4 years ago. I do NOT miss the snow, but I seriously miss the huge olive & cheese bar. :(
I love Wegman's. Simply the best grocery store I have ever been in. Like others have said, their prices on everyday items are below the major chains (at least here in MD) and their store brands are excellent quality -- not generic junk.
Wegman's is by FAR the best chain in this area (the stores I have seen are Whole foods, Giant, and Safeway) but it and Trader Joe's are both a 20 minute drive away. :-( Guess I'll have to stick with Safeway.
Wegmans is that rare type of store where better image actually comes with better service. I once asked the in-store butcher for some advice on a cut of lamb and got a fifteen minute education on how to select a good cut from the bin, how to ask for a good cut from a butcher, and of course how to cook it once I got it home. He sent me home with a free bag of nice big beef thigh-bone chunks for my dog too.
Love their olive & mushroom bar too. However, I would not recommend the froo-froo items in the baker. They make decent donuts and bagles and the like, but the tortes and flans are a little bland for my taste.
This makes me proud to live in Rochester. We ahve great companies that help support the community and also know how to do business.