Wegmans drops plans for a Triangle store. Here’s which one, and why it’s not happening
In early 2016, Wegmans announced that it would open its first North Carolina location in Cary, setting off a flurry of excitement among the grocery store’s loyal fans.
Monday, the New York-based grocer said plans for a Wegmans in Cary’s new Fenton commercial and residential development no longer are in the works.
The company told The News & Observer the store, which would have been Cary’s second location, is now excluded from its future plans, following the successful opening of three long-awaited Wegmans stores in the Triangle.
“Online shopping has grown tremendously, fueled in part by COVID-19, enabling us to serve customers in a much greater radius than was originally projected,” the company said in a statement to The N&O. “This has allowed us to plan our growth differently than we have in the past. As a result, we have decided not to move forward with the proposed Cary, NC location.”
There are currently Wegmans stores in Raleigh, west Cary and Chapel Hill — all of which opened in the last two years. The Chapel Hill location just opened Feb. 24.
Wegmans still is opening a location in May in Wake Forest at 11051 Ligon Mill Road. A future store in Holly Springs remains in the works for N.C. 55 and Ralph Stephens Road, according to its website.
The Wegmans in the eastern part of Cary would have anchored the upcoming Fenton mixed-use center on Cary Towne Boulevard. Part of Fenton’s attraction was based on plans to feature the grocer on its site.
A Wegmans replacement?
Hines, the Texas-based developer of Fenton, told The N&O Monday that the company remains optimistic about Fenton’s prospects and that another grocery tenant could take the Wegmans spot.
“Given the immense interest in Fenton, where 80% of our retail space already is pre-leased, we are confident in completing the already strong mix of shopping, dining, entertainment and residential options,” Hines said in a statement Monday to The N&O.
“Fenton’s exciting ‘Live, Work, Play’ environment — combined with the recent news of Epic Games locating its headquarters across the street — is attracting significant interest from prospective tenants, including grocers.”
Hines said the company was able to replace an anchor tenant, Cinebistro dine-in movie theater, when it dropped out of the Fenton development with another theater chain, Paragon Theaters.
“We expect to do the same for the grocery component of this project,” according to the statement.
This news means that Fenton will miss out on the cult following behind the grocer and its loyal followers — the so-called “Wegmaniacs.” Its fans say they admire the grocer’s in-house Burger Bar restaurant and the diversity and affordability of their privately branded food products like dressings, snacks and more.
When North Carolina’s first Wegmans opened in Raleigh in September 2019, the opening drew around 3,000 people with many waiting in line overnight for doors to open at 7 a.m. The volume of customers broke the company’s store-opening record, The N&O reported previously.
The company has appeared on Fortune’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list since it began, ranking at number three on that list in 2020.
Plans for Fenton
The 69-acre development is slated to include several restaurants and bars in addition to 355 units of luxury apartments when completed fully by 2022.
The first phase of Fenton’s development will include Raleigh cocktail bar Dram & Draught and restaurants Crawford Brothers Steakhouse and M Sushi.
Atlanta celebrity chef Ford Fry will open a new location of his Tex-Mex restaurant group Superica, which has locations in Charlotte. The Italian restaurant Colletta, part of the Charleston-based Indigo Road Hospitality Group, which opened O-Ku Sushi and Oak Steakhouse in Raleigh, will also open in Fenton, The N&O reported previously.
The residential portion of the site is named The Canopy, which will be a six-story luxury apartment building ranging from studios to three-bedroom units and four loft-style units.
The Wegmans news was first reported by the Triangle Business Journal.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Wegmans drops plans for a Triangle store. Here’s which one, and why it’s not happening."
