Wegmans going downhill?

Just curious if any of you regular Wegmans shoppers have noticed a bit of a deterioration in quality and selection at our local Wegmans. This has been my favourite grocery store, but I've noticed a few changes in recent months. First, the selection of brands is noticeably smaller - they recently did a layout change at the store, and it is even more evident that the Wegmans brands now predominate, with other brands either no longer carried or with very little shelf space (for example, Breyers ice cream now is relegated to a couple of flavor choices rather than the more than 10 choices they used to have; Wegmans tomato products dominate the shelf, with very little from Del Monte, Hunts, Progresso, etc.). Second, we notice a distinct drop in the quality of the prepared foods, especially the asian food bar. Third, we have noticed a drop-off in quality (though not yet selection) of the produce, particularly the fruit.

I don't know if this is a sign of the times, but I mentioned it to one of the cashiers and he commented "I don't know what's going on, but I've been hearing these comments from shoppers for the last week or two".

Anyone else notice the changes?

S

 

I don't shop at Wegman's althought I like the store I just don't like the crowds.

I have noticed that Giant and Safeway have been doing this for some time. Nothing wrong with it if their store brand is a good quality for instance Safeway Lucerne brand butter and creams are just as good as Land O'Lakes and cheaper.

Many times the store brand is produced by the "brand name" companies. If they are, it will state it somewhere on the label. So look at the store brand labels the next time you shop. But if it isn't and you favor a particular brand then you're out of luck.

I'm also finding more and more items discontinued and have resorted to mail order.

 

i'm a regular Wegmans shopper and noticed the lack of normal name brands too- Wegmans brand definitely ruling the shelves. we DO buy some wegmans brand items, and they haven't disappointed, but there are certain things i only want my trusted brand for, so i am NOT of fan of that.

regarding produce and other food quality- havent had a bad experience yet. we get their deli meats, cheeses, veggies and fruit weekly we don't do the prepared food much but just had some fantastic green beans from the prepared food counter last week. i love the individual vacuumed sealed meats- the mojo and teryaki chicken are both excellent!

now, safeway... sigh. they had ZERO ricotta cheese last time i went there- and that was ALL i needed for a recipe. 4 kinds of sour cream, 10 different cottage cheeses, and NO ricotta?!?! come on! then the way they have reorganized is godawful and ridiculous- drinks separated and all over the store- i HATE it now.

 

I haven't been in about 3 weeks, myself, but we're getting to the time of year where produce just isn't as nice. All the beauty of summer berries gives way to apples and pears, and everything else isn't really in season any more. Could that be part of what you're seeing?

 

One of the key reasons I shopped there was the childcare--T8ertot loved it and would beg to go. But, they cut the hours back and are not open in the evenings anymore. So--no Weggers for us anymore. We pretty much stick with the Teeter now and I use the Express Lane on-line shopping and pickup. We did go to Wegmans two weeks ago for some of their sun dried tomato stuffed chicken breasts (a fave) and I thought the place felt jammed with stock to me. Just materially crowded--not necessarily people crowded. Maybe that is pre-holiday stocking or something.

 

Here too... until they pulled out the climbing maze. Haven't been back since. Does anyone know if they replaced that, or were planning to replace it? Without it, the childcare is pretty useless to me.

 

Yes, that could be contributing to the drop-off in fruit quality, although I was in Whole Foods a week ago and I thought their fruit was higher quality. But setting that aside, what I was most shocked about was the reduction in brand selection, and the overwhelming dominance of the Wegman's brand stuff. Yes, I realize that some of the Wegman's brand items are fine, if not entirely indistinguishable from other brands. But there are some things for which I like a certain brand - and Wegmans reduction in selection (combined with the reduced quality of their prepared foods) is making me think twice about going there anymore. I haven't checked prices lately, though - is it just Wegmans who has dropped prices significantly?

 

i personally haven't noticed much of a change in the produce. i love wegman's and usually go early in the morning pre-crowds. i didn't notice much about the brands, but then all of their branded items i've found to be quite good. i go there because i do love their meats and produce, and their prices are substantially less on most things than any of the other grocery stores. they also have great customer service.

 

I shop there regularly now because it IS cheaper (really, I did an excel spreadsheet). I also go no-peak times and it's fine.

I like the new layout, they moved stuff together so it makes sense now. No more pasta by the olive bar, it's actually in the grocery section. I can find a lot more items now then before.

It's always packed with crap in the aisles, I guess I learned to get over it.

I have noticed more Wegman's brands, but for the most part they are the same as the name brands. It's crazy to me that Wegman's Oatmeal is more than $1 cheaper than Quaker. The only Wegman's brand stuff I don't like is zip-top bags. I still buy zip lock.

 

I still don't trust Safeway 100% with their meats, dairy, and some produce, but with their gas rewards now and budgets tightening I'm *sigh* having to go there more. Just today I had to fill a prescription and while I usually go to Walgreens, Safeway was offering their gas reward as well as a $30 gift card to new or transferred prescriptions. I won't buy milk at Safeway (only at Giant) and my meat I'll buy at Harris Teeter. Just about everything else I'll get at Safeway.

 

What are your concerns with Safeway?

We have been shopping at Safeway for a long while and never had any problems. Recently I have started doing the shopping at HT on my way home from work.

 

Much too frequently their products are expired, but still sitting on the shelves. Once I purchased some cheese (a block of mozzarella) and after I opened it I noticed mold...but the expiration date wasn't for another few days. Upon closer inspection I noticed the product sticker had been placed over an older product sticker indicating an expiration date that had long passed. We purchased blueberries that were fuzzy and molded within one day of purchase. I purchased half and half (which notoriously has an extended expiration date) and it was completely curdled even though the expiration was the next month. I bought a package of marshmallow cookies (with chocolate on them) and they tasted nasty. They were expired already. I purchased Pillsbury cookie dough (holiday cookies with ghosts or reindeer on them) and again, they were a couple weeks expired. We have complained to Safeway management there on site (with no response...just our money back) and have called Safeway corporate only to receive an e-mail apology stating that their stores are supposed to follow some shelf restocking protocol to have items expiring first in the front and removal of items already expired. Ever since the cheese incident we haven't been back, but with the gas savings we are opting to purchase some non-perishable items from there. It also helps that my mother shops at her Safeway and uses my phone number so we save even more on gas (she doesn't have the fuel station).

 

Wow thats terrible. I can't understand how a store can "re-sticker" products like that. Does that not violate some health rule or something?

I guess we have been lucky but I will start examining the product lables to see if they have been "updated".

 

expired products, milk has been bad even though NOT expired, which means to me it was sitting at the wrong temperature before it hit the shelves, fresh herbs have been skunky and gross the same day i bought them, expired snacks and cheese- this was my favorite store for years and now i can't trust them...

 

i, too, have had tons of issues with milk being bad, as well as produce. many times you can just smell spoiled milk when you open the milk fridge door! it's pretty gross. and, safeway costs a ton more than wegmans (for example, a gallon of 2% at weggies is only $2.89 i believe. HT is almost a dollar more, and safeway more yet).

 

Back in the 1990's Food Lion was caught on tape doctoring rotten meat, relabeling it and putting it back on the shelves. They gave old fish a clorox bath to rid the odor and repackaged it for sale. Gosh knows where the ground beef was coming from. Old eggs were placed in new packaging with new "use by" dates. Even old and rotten produce, when it could be salvaged, was cleaned up and displayed for sale. Anyway, ABC exposed them and were later slapped with a libel suit by Food Lion. Not sure what the outcome was...oh "Bloom"

We never shopped there and after seeing this expose never set foot in the store, even for dry goods. Supposedly their prices were as low as Shopper's Food Warehouse. Never shopped there either.

 

I fear that Food Lion only got caught doing what all the rest of the stores do but have not gotten caught.

 

For what it's worth, I've had spoiled milk, cheese and other items from Wegmans.....

 

Geez, I hope you're wrong!