Food shopping in Manhattan tends to be finite, more Paris than Paramus, dominated by neighborhood markets. Now Wegmans — the chain based in Rochester, N.Y., with more than 100 East Coast stores, including one in the Brooklyn Navy Yard — is poised to put 87,500 square feet of groceries on the ground floor and lower level of the John Wanamaker building in the East Village. The size of this Wegmans, which opens Oct. 18, surpasses the sprawling Whole Foods markets in Manhattan.
In a telephone interview, Danny Wegman, the chairman of the company, which he now runs with his daughters, Nicole and Colleen, said it took decades of evolving expertise to determine that the chain was ready for Manhattan. “New York is a different place,” Mr. Wegman said, adding that the Manhattan shopper has high standards to which his stores aspire.
Founded in 1916, the family-run company has, in recent years, paid close attention to bread, especially sourdough, and pastries baked in-house. It carries fresher, more diverse and organic produce, some from its own organic farm in the Finger Lakes or from its network of mostly New York farmers, and sells grass-fed beef from 120 farms, also mainly in New York. Domestic and imported Wagyu are sold at the butcher counter, and there’s an emphasis on seafood, both local and unique to this store, including some from the Toyosu market in Tokyo.
For decades, Mr. Wegman has collaborated with chefs, among them David Bouley and, from Paris, Pierre Hermé, on prepared foods and bakery items. Next year, a restaurant will open on the ground floor. And unlike at Wegmans’s other locations, there is no parking.
Wegmans, 770 Broadway (Astor Place), wegmans.com.
