It’s hunting season in the Triangle and across North Carolina for U.S. and foreign grocery chains looking for the best locations for their stores and hoping to attract customers from present residents and those who flood into the state each day.
The latest grocery chain on the hunt is Wegmans Food Markets based near Rochester, New York, and it bagged its first Triangle location in January with an announcement it would be part of a 95-acre mixed-use commercial project in Cary planned by Columbia Development Group.
Wake Forest may be the next site, although no one is confirming that supposition.
But Ryan Hutchinson, executive vice president for operations at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, confirmed Monday that the 18.75-acre tract the seminary owns in the northeast corner where Stadium Drive meets Capital Boulevard is under contract. “We have the property under contract with Columbia Development.”
A spokesman for Wegmans, Jo Natale, vice president of media relations, was not very forthcoming Monday. “I can’t comment on specific locations, but what I can tell you is that Wegmans is considering multiple sites in the Raleigh/Durham market. Until there are firm deals for each of these sites, I am unable to share the locations or other details. (These sites are in addition to the site in Cary located at Cary Town Blvd. and I-40 announced in January.)”
The Gazette was referred to Abbitt Goodwin with Columbia Development as a source of more information, but as of Wednesday afternoon he had not responded to an email asking about the contract and Wegmans plans
The 18.75 acres back up to the Staffordshire subdivision and are divided by the portion of Stadium Drive that was abandoned when the road was realigned to meet Jenkins Road. The Wake County Revenue Department website says the land is valued at $750,000 and is exempt from property taxes. A small corner piece, 1.53 acres, right at the intersection, is owned by Butterfly Holdings LLC and E. Hunt II LLC, two of the Holding family properties.
Back in January the Triangle Business Journal announced that Wegmans Food Markets based in Gates, New York, had signed a letter of intent with Columbia Development Group to include a store in a mixed-use development in Cary. The Journal also noted that the “grocery chain with a cult-like following across the eastern seaboard, has been rumored for months that it is working on plans to expand southward in North Carolina’s Triangle region.”
Wegmans is a regional supermarket chain with 90 stores: 46 in New York, 17 in Pennsylvania, seven in New Jersey, nine in Virginia, seven in Maryland and four in Massachusetts. It has over 46,000 employees and is one of the top-ranked companies to work for, according to Fortune magazine. It was called America’s favorite supermarket this year after a consumer study by Market Force Information.
It features consistent low prices on items people buy each week and has a family size pack on products with a savings of 30 percent or more. The stores are large – 75,000 to 140,000 square feet – to accommodate the 50,000 to 70,000 products, much more than most supermarkets. Stores feature a market café with take-out or eat-in, restaurant-quality prepared foods, a coffee shop, pizza shop, organic salad bar, Asian bar, a wide variety of organic foods, fresh-caught seafood, and other specialties.
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Some late-breaking news on a Wednesday is that Huddle House is “specifically targeting expansion in Wake Forest,” according to a statement released by Stephanie Taylor with All Points Public Relations. She was quoting Christina Chambers, director of Franchise Development for Huddle House.
“Chambers says the company’s decision to target the area comes as the brand continues to consistently achieve its objectives, experiencing 24 months of same store sales increases – which it plans to continue with the well-managed franchise expansion plan, and an unwavering focus on serving freshly prepared, quality home-style food in a welcoming, friendly atmosphere.
“Chambers notes that Huddle House currently has more than 369 locations open, 6 of these in North Carolina, and an additional 39 in development throughout the country. Plans are in place to have 500 units opened by April 2019.”
This is news to the Wake Forest Planning Department. Assistant Director Charlie Yokley said, “We haven’t talked to anyone that specifically mentioned a new Huddle House location.”
