Wegmans Food Market

Wegmans Food Markets is a privately held, family-owned supermarket operator known for large, full-line grocery stores that combine everyday shopping with a wide range of fresh foods and in-store services. Its locations typically feature extensive produce, meat, seafood, bakery, and prepared foods, along with pharmacies and specialty departments, which helps the stores function as strong anchors that draw consistent traffic to surrounding retail.

The company traces its origins to 1916, when brothers John and Walter Wegman started the Rochester Fruit & Vegetable Company as a produce pushcart business in Rochester, New York. In 1930, John Wegman opened the first Wegmans supermarket on Genesee Street in Rochester, shifting from a produce stand to a full grocery store model. That move created the basic format that Wegmans would refine over the following decades as it grew across the Rochester area and then throughout upstate New York.

A notable milestone came in the 1990s, when Wegmans began expanding beyond New York into neighboring states. That regional move set the stage for its current footprint across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. As of April 2024 the company operates about 110 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Wegmans is headquartered in Gates, a suburb of Rochester, New York, and remains under Wegman family leadership, with Danny Wegman as chairman and his daughter Colleen Wegman as CEO.

Over roughly the last five years, Wegmans has continued a measured expansion along the East Coast, concentrating on higher-income, dense suburban and infill locations rather than attempting a national rollout. Recent and planned projects include new stores in and around the Washington, D.C. metro, New York City–area suburbs, and growth markets in Virginia and North Carolina. The company often seeks ground-up or major redevelopment opportunities where it can serve as a primary or co-anchor, frequently within mixed-use or regional center environments.

Today, Wegmans is viewed as a destination grocery concept that can pull from a wide trade area and support a mix of complementary retail, restaurant, and service uses. Its large-scale, experience-focused stores, stable private ownership, and consistent, selective growth posture make it a reliable anchor candidate for landlords, brokers, and developers working on both new projects and repositionings in key East Coast markets.