Inside a Wegmans store.
Credit: Wegmans
Bostonians are about to get a taste of what the fuss is all about when it comes to Wegmans grocery stores.
Mayor Thomas Menino announced Monday in a speech to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau that the New York-based chain will open in the Fenway neighborhood.
“It will open in the Landmark Center and continue the progress in that neighborhood,” Menino said in his prepared remarks.
Wegmans has 81 stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The family-owned chain was founded in 1916 and is known for its massive, maze-like stores with countless items. The enormous prepared foods section offers scores of items including fresh-made popcorn and potato chips.
The closest store to Boston and only one in Massachusetts opened in Northborough in 2011 and was said to break the store’s opening day record when 25,000 visited the location. The 140,000-square-foot store has 600 employees and a restaurant with seating for a few hundred. It is said to be the biggest grocery store in New England.
However, it may be a while before the store opens in Boston. A Wegmans spokesperson said the store is still working on securing a deal for the location.
“We are very interested in a site in the Fenway neighborhood,” said Jo Natale, the Wegmans spokesperson, in a statement. “Discussions with the developer are under way, and we anticipate that an acceptable agreement can be reached in the near future.”
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