HANOVER — It’s official. Wegmans Food Store opened on Sunday, July 23 at 7:00 a.m. with customers waiting in line since Saturday evening 9:00 p.m. By 6:45 a.m. the line was wrapped around the building waiting to enter the 113,000 square foot store. The new Hanover store carries over 65,000 individual products, with more than 3,000 organic items, 700 produce offerings, 300 imported and domestic cheeses – including Wegmans’ own cave-aged cheeses – a wide array of international ingredients, and whole fish delivered daily and cut to order. Store hours are 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 Midnight, seven days a week.
Gillian Raye, Wantage, and Susan Davis, Wharton, parked their RV in the Wegmans parking lot on Saturday evening, and waited for the new store to open its doors. Raye said “I been waiting for months to be able to shop at Wegmans. I never been inside a Wegmans store, but I heard and read so many great things about the supermarket, I wanted to be one of the first shoppers here.”
“Although she won’t be a regular shopper because she resides about an hour away, she will make monthly trips here to stock up, Her friend, Susan Davis, on the other hand, will make Wegmans part of her shopping routine,” said Raye.
Back a little further in line, customer number 6, was Vanessa Montgomery, who lives in the Powdermill Section of Parsippany, stated this will be her new shopping place. “I am so excited that Wegmans opened within five minutes of my home, I will be here all the time. It feels like a Hollywood premiere. The prices are great, their app is so easy to use. The employees are wonderful, everyone greeted me with a smile. I previously would shop at Stop and Shop for quick items, but most of my shopping was done at ShopRite. Now it will be only Wegmans. I can stop at the store on my way home to pick up one item or do my weekly shopping. I am so excited,” said Vanessa.
Store Manager Tim Lockwood said “opening a brand-new Wegmans Food Market in Hanover is a dream come true.” The store located near the intersection of I-287 and Route 10, is the family-owned company’s 93rd store overall, eighth in New Jersey, and the first to open this year.
“The opportunity to introduce a whole new way of shopping to this community is exhilarating,” he says. “When you add to that the chance to build a new team and instill the Wegmans values in nearly 500 employees, you’ve reached the pinnacle of your career.”
Lockwood himself has worked at Wegmans for 28 years and looks upon his new assignment as a fresh chance to give back. Wegmans’ core value for making a difference in every community it serves began more than a year ago.
Early on, the store’s management began establishing community partnerships, supporting local agencies like the Interfaith Food Pantry and the United Way, awarding honorary scholarships to local students in a nod to the company’s employee scholarship program, and getting to know the neighborhood by attending and sponsoring events.
The new Hanover store is 113,000 square feet, has a light and airy feel, an open floor plan on a single level, and a generous seating area in the Market Café, with space for more than 300 diners indoors and out. The store also features one of Wegmans’ popular restaurant concepts, The Burger Bar. The Burger Car is Wegman’s fast, fresh, and flavorful restaurant within the Market Cafe. The menu, developed by their own chefs and made fresh to order, offers the best burgers, salads, sandwiches, soups, sides, specialty milkshakes, and kids’ meals.
A 15,000 sq. ft. wine, beer, and spirits shop leased to a third-party owner in an adjoining space offers the convenience of one-stop shopping for beverage pairings to complement meals.
Lockwood’s goal is “to have all my people share in our success. I’ve always strived to work together not just to set goals, but to achieve them and then to celebrate the accomplishment.” Employees have spent the last several months training and preparing for one goal: to dazzle customers with incredible service, quality, selection, and low prices.
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a 93-store supermarket chain with stores inNew Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The family-owned company, recognized as an industry leader and innovator, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016. Wegmans has been named one of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ by FORTUNE magazine for 20 consecutive years, ranking #2 in 2017.
Mack-Cali Realty Corporation owners of the property located in the Mack-Cali Business Campus also signed a lease with 24 Hour Fitness. 24 Hour Fitness will join anchor tenant Wegmans and will occupy approximately 40,000 square feet.
“Mack-Cali is thrilled about bringing 24 Hour Fitness to the Parsippany/Hanover area. 24 Hour Fitness will join Wegmans as key amenities not only for our office tenants and residents in the area but also the entire community. Adding amenities like 24 Hour Fitness and Wegmans are at the core of Mack-Cali’s commitment to its tenants and the markets in which we are a part of,” said Michael J. DeMarco, Mack-Cali Chief Executive Officer.
In 2013, Hanover Planning Board approved a 113,000 square-foot Wegmans supermarket along with three restaurant buildings, a bank building and parking for 1,178 cars at Sylvan Way and Ridgedale Avenue located on the northern side of Route 10 across from Ridgedale on what is was vacant wooded land.
The site will use water and sewer from Parsippany-Troy Hills for the property, under an agreement that dates back some 25 years, and was renewed by the Township Council in 2013.
The site is approximately 4.5 miles from the approved Whole Foods site in the Waterview Marketplace, on Waterview Boulevard and Route 46, which they broke ground earlier this month. Whole Foods Market that will occupy 48,000 square feet, which is less than half the size of new Hanover location.
