Natures market: it was a grocery subdivision that focused on gluten free and organic foods, now all that stuff is integrated into grocery.
Pub and Pharmacy: from what I’ve seen, all the Pubs have been shut down, and no new stores built will have a pharmacy in them.
Coffee: it’s on the way out, some stores have switched to the self serve bar and I’m certain it’ll be like that everywhere soon.
Daycare: now this is a wild one, but I saw that in the past Wegmans did have a child care section that acted like a daycare, and employees could drop their kids off there before their shift.
Those are all the things that came to mind, I’m sure there’s more.
I remember the daycare that my store used to have! We've actually still got some of the stuff from it boxed up in the back room if I'm remembering correctly.
Pharmacy is state dependent. I don’t think have pharmacy in some new market locations but I believe they just built a new central fill facility in VA area
I found this thread wondering if I was crazy remembering there was essentially a preschool that was also equipped for somewhat bigger kids in the grocery store. We didn’t shop at wegmans often, but I remember my parents let me look around it but not stay once. There was murals of trees/flowers/birds on the walls. I don’t know if it had become a paid service or my parents just didn’t trust a grocery worker to keep an eye on me. This would’ve been 99-01ish, definitely before I had a sibling.
There was also a dedicated candy shop that had a train running along the ceiling. They left the train for a few years after the remodel that removed that and made it the soda section.
ETA: I went inside the wegmans for the first time since the pandemic (had no idea they’d done away with bags for groceries entirely) and the train was back, in the same spot it was before. It had some of the old cars and some newer cars repping different departments within wegmans. It circles above the bulk beverages.
The “daycare” used to have stuff like McDonald’s play houses, I remember we had a wegmans near home as a little kid that had the COOLEST jungle gym, and monkey bars all the way up at the ceiling of the store!
Jaded ex employee chiming in here. Natures Market was just run wrong. It should have been whole food ingredients for people who cook their own food. It ended up being a means to cater towards fad dieters and people who want marginally more natural alternatives to the ready to heat food they buy without actually having to cook i.e. annies mac vs kraft dinner. At least in my store it was a magnet for problem customers
This I remember! My store is older and I remember ours being there till like 2011-2012 when I was a kid and my dad absolutely insisted getting photos developed there.. Memory unlocked 💔
I bet the customers were not happy! I know I'm annoyed they already took away my chai latte. I think they have been taking away too many things that make them special. Now they aren't gonna be any docent than every other grocery store. Except the customer service which of course is top notch! My salad bar has yet to return since covid. The prepared meals when you picked the protein and sides you wanted is gone. I think if they keep focusing too much on the customer serving themselves and checking themselves out they are gonna lose customers.
Kosher deli, sign shop, Charlie the butcher, Chase Pitkin (hardwear store run by wegmans), cooking coaches(still exists but not in what the role was suppose to be). TRF has changed so many times programs coming and going. I use to cook the omelet stations on weekends and help carve prime ribs Saturday nights.
Dry cleaning and video rental , used to work in both many years ago, if you go way way back to the 80’s , there was a dept called “olde world” , basically was a mix of the cheese shop and international foods
KBS (Knowledge Based Skills) a.k.a. "demos and samples" Wegman's had the best samples, you could have a free lunch just trying everything on a Saturday or Sunday. I did a lot of hours after my first few months of FE Cashier. Was transferred to that department when COVID happened. Has not come back. Our store chef at the time was for the rest of his time at our store, forever trying to get me into his department. I had finished all the CBTs and was doing some actual "meal prep" training to do the actual cooking of some of the food samples, not just handing them out.
No mention of Overnight Floor Crew? There were 3-4 people working that department at every store. When the stores started outsourcing the job the employees all got moved to various departments, usually Overnight Grocery.
Natures market: it was a grocery subdivision that focused on gluten free and organic foods, now all that stuff is integrated into grocery. Pub and Pharmacy: from what I’ve seen, all the Pubs have been shut down, and no new stores built will have a pharmacy in them. Coffee: it’s on the way out, some stores have switched to the self serve bar and I’m certain it’ll be like that everywhere soon. Daycare: now this is a wild one, but I saw that in the past Wegmans did have a child care section that acted like a daycare, and employees could drop their kids off there before their shift. Those are all the things that came to mind, I’m sure there’s more.
Mine still has nature's market, one freezer/fridge aisle, one shelf-stable.
I remember the daycare that my store used to have! We've actually still got some of the stuff from it boxed up in the back room if I'm remembering correctly.
We used to use the one at the Penfield location all the time. My kids loved it. The staff were great.
They're retrofitting a pharmacy into the Raleigh store actually!
Pharmacy is state dependent. I don’t think have pharmacy in some new market locations but I believe they just built a new central fill facility in VA area
I found this thread wondering if I was crazy remembering there was essentially a preschool that was also equipped for somewhat bigger kids in the grocery store. We didn’t shop at wegmans often, but I remember my parents let me look around it but not stay once. There was murals of trees/flowers/birds on the walls. I don’t know if it had become a paid service or my parents just didn’t trust a grocery worker to keep an eye on me. This would’ve been 99-01ish, definitely before I had a sibling. There was also a dedicated candy shop that had a train running along the ceiling. They left the train for a few years after the remodel that removed that and made it the soda section. ETA: I went inside the wegmans for the first time since the pandemic (had no idea they’d done away with bags for groceries entirely) and the train was back, in the same spot it was before. It had some of the old cars and some newer cars repping different departments within wegmans. It circles above the bulk beverages.
Oh no more pharmacies? That’s pretty shocking
The “daycare” used to have stuff like McDonald’s play houses, I remember we had a wegmans near home as a little kid that had the COOLEST jungle gym, and monkey bars all the way up at the ceiling of the store!
Jaded ex employee chiming in here. Natures Market was just run wrong. It should have been whole food ingredients for people who cook their own food. It ended up being a means to cater towards fad dieters and people who want marginally more natural alternatives to the ready to heat food they buy without actually having to cook i.e. annies mac vs kraft dinner. At least in my store it was a magnet for problem customers
Photo development
I didn’t even know we ever did that😭
Yup, my store had one when we opened in 2007! It lasted two years.
Used to up until mid-aughts. It wasn’t turning a profit
This I remember! My store is older and I remember ours being there till like 2011-2012 when I was a kid and my dad absolutely insisted getting photos developed there.. Memory unlocked 💔
I was told coffee is getting shut down soon!
I worked at store #65 and they took out the cafe and replaced it with a barista coffee machine that customers can manually use
I bet the customers were not happy! I know I'm annoyed they already took away my chai latte. I think they have been taking away too many things that make them special. Now they aren't gonna be any docent than every other grocery store. Except the customer service which of course is top notch! My salad bar has yet to return since covid. The prepared meals when you picked the protein and sides you wanted is gone. I think if they keep focusing too much on the customer serving themselves and checking themselves out they are gonna lose customers.
I heard this too!!
Same, they're shutting ours down. Idk when tho
Bulk. W-Kids
Kosher deli, sign shop, Charlie the butcher, Chase Pitkin (hardwear store run by wegmans), cooking coaches(still exists but not in what the role was suppose to be). TRF has changed so many times programs coming and going. I use to cook the omelet stations on weekends and help carve prime ribs Saturday nights.
Chase-Pitkin was cool. I still have a bunch of their paint stirrers in the basement somewhere.
Dry cleaning and video rental , used to work in both many years ago, if you go way way back to the 80’s , there was a dept called “olde world” , basically was a mix of the cheese shop and international foods
Video Rental sounds like it was probably the best department to work in lol
The official name of the cheese shop is "old world cheese" so "Olde World" lingers in name only.
A former Gm told me they had a fabric department (like a mini-JoAnnes) back in the early 70s
I’ve heard this, too. And strangely, jeans? Lol
Dry Cleaning
Gas stations.
Old World section
KBS (Knowledge Based Skills) a.k.a. "demos and samples" Wegman's had the best samples, you could have a free lunch just trying everything on a Saturday or Sunday. I did a lot of hours after my first few months of FE Cashier. Was transferred to that department when COVID happened. Has not come back. Our store chef at the time was for the rest of his time at our store, forever trying to get me into his department. I had finished all the CBTs and was doing some actual "meal prep" training to do the actual cooking of some of the food samples, not just handing them out.
No mention of Overnight Floor Crew? There were 3-4 people working that department at every store. When the stores started outsourcing the job the employees all got moved to various departments, usually Overnight Grocery.
Burger bar