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One store to close, another retrofitted
Two supermarket chains made major announcements late last week, with Wegmans announcing that it will close its Walden Avenue store in mid-October, and Tops reporting that it has completed a major remodeling of its Union Road location.
Despite the closing, Wegmans still has a presence in Cheektowaga, with two other stores located within the town.
Wegmans officials said that the store, commonly known as the "Galleria store" because of its proximity to the mall, is a popular destination for Walden Galleria shoppers.
Built 16 years ago, company officials say that sales growth at the Walden store is flat, compared to the growth over time that other Wegmans have experienced.
"This was in spite of an investment of over a half-million dollars into improvements in the store in the last several years," said Wegmans Senior Vice President for the Buffalo Division, Mike Keating.
Keating also noted that the Walden Avenue store is an "exception to the norm" for Wegmans locations; most stores are built in densely populated residential areas.
"We know that our customers are happiest shopping in our high-volume stores, because high volume allows us to offer the freshest products, incredible service and consistent low prices," Keating added.
Meanwhile, the Union Road Tops, located at George Urban Boulevard, is one of 11 area stores that was part of a multi-million dollar capital investment campaign announced by Tops in April.
"Our Cheektowaga store was one of those in which we wanted to focus our attention," said Tracy Pawelski of Ahold USA, which operates Tops Markets. "We wanted to give it an upgrade and provide more modern features and convenience that our Cheektowaga customers deserve."
The Union Road store is among six area Tops locations where renovations were recently completed. Among the others is a Tops on Transit Road at French Road in Lancaster. The other five stores are expected to be completed by December 31, 2006.
The stores sport new decor and renovated exterior along with new features. Among the new features at all Tops stores is Nature's Promise Marketplace, which is called "a health food store within the store."
The Nature's Promise area offers an expanded variety of natural and organic products including produce, dairy, meat and poultry.
"It is clear to us that offering healthy food choices to our customers isn't a passing fad, but a mainstream trend," said Pawelski. "The demand for natural and organic products has increased 20 percent each year for the last 10 years."
Along with health and wellness, the remodeled store features stateof-the-art technology to provide customers with a more convenient shopping experience.
For example, EasyWeigh allows customers to weigh produce, bulk foods and other random weights. After placing an item in a bag and placing it on a scale, the customer enters the product's code number on a touch-screen, and a bar code label is then printed for the item.
"We'd like to thank our customers for continuing to shop with us throughout the renovation process," said Joe Macadlo, store manager. "With this remodel, we were able to satisfy our shoppers' needs and provide them with new amenities and upgrades to complete their shopping in the most effective and efficient manner."
The Walden Avenue Wegmans store employs 229 persons, all of whom company officials say will be offered transfers to other area Wegmans.
Wegmans currently operates 71 stores, 14 of which are part of the Buffalo division.
There are two other Wegmans in Cheektowaga and Depew, one on Transit Road at Losson Road and another in Depew on Dick Road at George Urban Boulevard. The Depew location was completely rebuilt beginning in 2005 and reopened in April 2006.
Tops has one other Cheektowaga location, in Thruway Plaza. There is another store on Transit Road in Lancaster, near Rehm Road. Other local Tops include one on Broadway in Depew and one located on Harlem Road in West Seneca, just south of Clinton Street.
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