What is Wegmans? Learn about It’s History & Current Affairs

Are you a US citizen? If yes, then there are no chances that you would have never come to the name Wegmans in life. Wegmans is not just a food and grocery store but it is also one of the largest private sector companies of the United States.

The company has a total chain of 101 stores and more than 45 percent of them are at New York.

Brief History

It has a long history and was started in the year 1916 by two Americans john Wegman and Walter Wegman together. Since then Wegmans never looked behind and in 2019 when Wegmans became the best grocery store in the united states thanks to its official website mywegmansconnect it came into a strong position in the market. The company is headquartered in Rochester. The company also earned the top position in respect to freshness, cleanliness and organic selection.

Not only this, but Wegmans is also known as the best privately owned company which treats their employees well.

Let us have a close look at this.

Wegmans in 1930’s

It may seem to you as the supermarket concept is a relatively new development which came to us in 20^th century. But you would be surprised to know that when Wegman brothers started their first grocery store in the 1920s, the store area was around 20,000 sq. feet. It also included a cafeteria that has the seating capacity of 300 people.

Now, their store area has increased and almost every store has an area of 75,00 to 1,40,000 sq. feet.

Wegmans in 1950

The journey of Wegman brothers didn’t stop with just a local retail concept. In 1950, they started their own Tv show in which they gave their customers virtual currency that can be used to purchase merchandise in an auction during the show Dollar derby. The money was named as phony money, now it is not like that as phony money is an illegal way for any purchase.

Jobs at Wegmans

Getting a job at Wegmans is not that easy. Whenever a new Wegmans store is opened the demand for jobs exceeds more than the open positions. In 2013, when a new store was opened in Pennsylvania, more than 10,000 applications were received for just 500 vacancies. That was a five percent acceptance rate which is far less than the acceptance rate of Harvard University which is 5.8 percent.

Wegmans or wegman’s-Which is the right way to speak or write

Wegmans is most of the time is written as Wegman’s which is also the right way to write. But in 1931, Wegmans wanted to make their logo simpler and therefore company removed the apostrophe S.

However, apostrophe S would be the best and right according to English grammar but if you would calculate the cost that would incur to make it grammatically right you would be surprised. Just to make a small change the company would now have to spend 500,000 US dollars.

This does not make sense now to spend so much of money for a small change and therefore company write itself as Wegmans.

Scholarships at Wegmans

The perks of working at Wegmans is certainly great. Every year the company spends more than 120 million dollars in scholarships for its employees. These scholarships were started in 1984 and still it is going in Wegmans. The company has a total of approx. 38,500 workers and these scholarships give them the opportunity to study more and carry on their tuition and other school expenses.

This is one of its kind and rare too that a benefit is given to the employees by an organization.

Wegmans – just for kids too

Rochester has a strong museum for play for kids. It is just opened as a play store where you would find the same setup as that of the store and kids can play here. This has been done by Wegmans to push youngsters to prepare for a career in produce. The store has all the dummy food items and kids can go behind the counter and can become a sushi chef or a cashier during play.

Why Wegmans produce is always fresh?

According to the strategic resource group, the Wegmans turn their produce more than 100 times a year which is much more than the other stores which do it 20-25 times a year. So, it is not just in your mind that Wegmans produce tastes better and are fresh but it is true.

Due to the turning around of food products only a minimal amount of food is on the shelves that turn bad.

Wegamns also have their own cheese caves which are situated in Rochester. This was opened in early 2014. There is also a climate control building for cheese and even for a brie.

Wegmans Hardware stores

In 1973, Wegmans opened its first hardware store too. Later several stores were opened. The hardware stores were opened as the name Chase-Pitkin. But in 2005, when Lowe’s and Home Depot came into market the company could not able to compete with them and has to close all their hardware stores.

Wrapping it up

I would not say that you cannot find a better store in your locality than Wegmans. But trust me, a company which do not allow any of their food products to get bad can’t be found.

Above all, have you ever seen a company which used to give their employees so much of scholarships for 4 years to carry on with their schoolings? No, I haven’t seen in my life yet. These all the perks that make this company the best grocery chain in the US. I hope it will one day become the best grocery store in the world.