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But this isn't Atlanta, it's Rochester. Secondly, the state/county's "solution" to the potential traffic situation, was to install 2 more traffic lights. On a highly travelled stretch of Monroe Avenue, you now have SIX lights within an approximate 1.5 mile stretch of road. No natural congestion there............
Well that’s where I live now so I can’t say I’m even remotely sympathetic. Next time I’m in Rochester I’ll try to check it out, but I’m sure the extra 3 minutes sitting on Monroe will throw my whole day off
Seriously, traffic should be the last thing anyone in Rochester complains about.
But this isn't Atlanta, it's Rochester. Secondly, the state/county's "solution" to the potential traffic situation, was to install 2 more traffic lights. On a highly travelled stretch of Monroe Avenue, you now have SIX lights within an approximate 1.5 mile stretch of road. No natural congestion there............
I don't know if you ever get over to the west side, but they did the same thing on West Ridge rd. Even with 3 lanes of traffic, there are still backups at times. It seems as soon as they added another lane, traffic filled them up.
I don't know if you ever get over to the west side, but they did the same thing on West Ridge rd. Even with 3 lanes of traffic, there are still backups at times. It seems as soon as they added another lane, traffic filled them up.
Oh yeah, I'm familiar with west Ridge Road. What's REALLY classic, out there, is when the Ridge is tied up because the railroad is shuttling coal cars in and out of Kodak's powerplant. They used to perform this task exclusively in the middle of the night in order to minimize the traffic disruption, but a couple of years ago, I had to go to some place on West Ridge Road in the middle of the day, and they were moving coal cars at that time. Traffic was tied up for close to 15 minutes. Boy were people HOT!!!
As I was noted earlier, Whole Foods won’t really fill any niche that Wegmans can’t. They can do well and probably not have much if any impact on the flagship Pittsford store. So I won’t be surprised to hear that the locals aren’t overly excited. I do like having competition and options, and WF will provide some needed variety to Rochester shoppers especially for those with the higher disposable incomes in the nearby zip codes.
Rochester is probably among the last markets they’ve entered, and I suspect that the heavy presence of Wegmans was a formidable barrier to doing so earlier. Like most highly successful retailers they make decisions on where to locate based on the most detailed market analytics, and wouldn’t open a store without it having high probability for success.
Whole Foods is 5 times larger than Wegmans plus its backed by Amazon. They are similar though WF has a much larger selection of Organic Foods. They have similar hot food/salad bars, bakeries, fresh fish, meats etc. WF is not to be taken lightly since they offer delivery plus the stores are spotless and well stocked. I shopped at Wegmans for over 40 years and it was my go to store when I lived in WNY. WF is not as expensive as it was with its 365 brand, that is excellent quality at a very competitive price. Go see for yourself. Trader Joes on the other hand is awesome with fantastic prices and superior quality, I cannot live without it.
Whole Foods is 5 times larger than Wegmans plus its backed by Amazon. They are similar though WF has a much larger selection of Organic Foods. They have similar hot food/salad bars, bakeries, fresh fish, meats etc. WF is not to be taken lightly since they offer delivery plus the stores are spotless and well stocked. I shopped at Wegmans for over 40 years and it was my go to store when I lived in WNY. WF is not as expensive as it was with its 365 brand, that is excellent quality at a very competitive price. Go see for yourself. Trader Joes on the other hand is awesome with fantastic prices and superior quality, I cannot live without it.
One thing that I am curious about is that many articles say the "first" Whole Foods store in Rochester. Obviously they are aware of Wegmans and appear to be challenging them. THIS store is almost twice the size of their normal store. Wondering if there may be more WF coming if this one does well?
One thing that I am curious about is that many articles say the "first" Whole Foods store in Rochester. Obviously they are aware of Wegmans and appear to be challenging them. THIS store is almost twice the size of their normal store. Wondering if there may be more WF coming if this one does well?
To the Rochester area or to Upstate NY? Albany and Amherst are the only locations in Upstate NY so far.
NYS has 29, all but 3 are in the NYC area. I think they go by demographics and wealth of an area. Amherst, Brighton and Albany are relatively well to do areas. I think the headwinds of Wegmans limits the upstate NYS potential. I think they chose Amherst because of the proximity to UB. Unfortunately the plaza that it anchors seems to be in turmoil. That spot in Brighton has a Wegmans, Whole Foods, Cheesecake Factory, Fidelity Investments that cater to a more upscale clientele. There are many fast growing well to do areas in the country that are on their radar. They just opened a second location here which is always packed.
NYS has 29, all but 3 are in the NYC area. I think they go by demographics and wealth of an area. Amherst, Brighton and Albany are relatively well to do areas. I think the headwinds of Wegmans limits the upstate NYS potential. I think they chose Amherst because of the proximity to UB. Unfortunately the plaza that it anchors seems to be in turmoil. That spot in Brighton has a Wegmans, Whole Foods, Cheesecake Factory, Fidelity Investments that cater to a more upscale clientele. There are many fast growing well to do areas in the country that are on their radar. They just opened a second location here which is always packed.
I think the bolded is the key sentence, as Wegmans is a highly regarded grocery chain. So, that may have played a part in the relatively recent arrival of Whole Foods in Upstate NY.
I could see the eastern suburbs of Syracuse getting one next, as it is arguably the most upscale part of the state without one now(from roughly the outer East Side of Syracuse through the Jamesville-DeWitt, Fayetteville-Manlius and even into the Cazenovia SD's and the area colleges/universities are nearby).
Places such as Vestal in the Binghamton area, New Hartford in the Utica-Rome area and maybe due to the nearby presence of Fortune 500 company Corning Inc., Big Flats in the Elmira area would be communities in smaller Upstate areas that would/could fit the profile for a store.
I could see the mid Hudson Valley also getting one eventually(town of Wallkill near Middletown, towns of Poughkeepsie and Newburgh(different from the cities of the same name), Woodbury, etc.).
I think the bolded is the key sentence, as Wegmans is a highly regarded grocery chain. So, that may have played a part in the relatively recent arrival of Whole Foods in Upstate NY.
I could see the eastern suburbs of Syracuse getting one next, as it is arguably the most upscale part of the state without one now(from roughly the outer East Side of Syracuse through the Jamesville-DeWitt, Fayetteville-Manlius and even into the Cazenovia SD's and the area colleges/universities are nearby).
Places such as Vestal in the Binghamton area, New Hartford in the Utica-Rome area and maybe due to the nearby presence of Fortune 500 company Corning Inc., Big Flats in the Elmira area would be communities in smaller Upstate areas that would/could fit the profile for a store.
I could see the mid Hudson Valley also getting one eventually(town of Wallkill near Middletown, towns of Poughkeepsie and Newburgh(different from the cities of the same name), Woodbury, etc.).
It doesn't matter what any of us think. Whole Foods is part of the Amazon ecosystem. Don't forget Amazon delivers and sells to people in all corners of the US and has a wealth of information about how much people spend and where. They can just look at the data and know for sure which areas make sense for them. The Whole Foods stores are a big undertaking and here they demolished the middle of a strip center and rebuilt the store from scratch. The stores are stocked with lots of local products which are prominently displayed and a great idea IMHO to give small local companies a break. There are a lot of employees constantly stocking shelves, manning the fresh fish and butcher sections and there is always someone there to help out. The bakery section rivals Wegmans with a huge selection of everything. The prepared foods section also rivals Wegmans. Whole Foods also has humane animal treatment, lots of Organic and healthy food and is really tuned in to the healthy food movement. I have shopped many, many times at each.
It doesn't matter what any of us think. Whole Foods is part of the Amazon ecosystem. Don't forget Amazon delivers and sells to people in all corners of the US and has a wealth of information about how much people spend and where. They can just look at the data and know for sure which areas make sense for them. The Whole Foods stores are a big undertaking and here they demolished the middle of a strip center and rebuilt the store from scratch. The stores are stocked with lots of local products which are prominently displayed and a great idea IMHO to give small local companies a break. There are a lot of employees constantly stocking shelves, manning the fresh fish and butcher sections and there is always someone there to help out. The bakery section rivals Wegmans with a huge selection of everything. The prepared foods section also rivals Wegmans. Whole Foods also has humane animal treatment, lots of Organic and healthy food and is really tuned in to the healthy food movement. I have shopped many, many times at each.
My post was more of one of prediction based on demographic information, related to places in Upstate NY without a Whole Foods store. I’m sure they do their research and if they look, some of those places likely fit what they are looking for.
Keep in mind that some of the places mentioned don’t have a Wegmans nearby either(New Hartford and much of the mid Hudson Valley).
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