New Yorkers celebrate opening of first Manhattan Wegmans at Astor Place

Tailgaters. TV crews. Cheering fans.

The unusual buzz on Astor Place in the East Village Wednesday morning was for Wegmans, the Rochester-based supermarket chain making its long-awaited Manhattan debut.

The brand is famous for the particular enthusiasm of its fans, who have been known to show up in their thousands on opening days.

Casey Whyland, 27, one of dozens waiting in line, was hard to miss in a Wegmans cap and sweatshirt. She brought a group of high school friends with her for the occasion, all of whom grew up going to the Wegmans in upstate DeWitt.

“The culture, the fandom, the community — it’s a gift,” said the actor, who lives on the Upper West Side. “It’s so much more than a grocery store.”

The new site is 87,500 square feet, making it one of the largest grocery stores in the borough. It takes up two floors in the historic Wanamaker Building, previously home to the Astor Place Kmart before it shuttered in 2021. The location has over 600 new employees.

Wegmans has more than a hundred stores along the East Coast. Its only other New York City location opened at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2019.

Jeff Pollock and Brad Orego remember the occasion well. The pair showed up to tailgate that day, a tradition they were happy to revive.

“That time around it was pouring rain, about 45 degrees out I think. So it seemed like better weather [and I figured] why not?” said Pollock, 35, who works in marketing.

The Buffalo natives were decked out in full Buffalo Bills gear on Wednesday morning, presiding over a table of fresh breakfast food they prepared with ingredients from the Brooklyn location.

The Astor Place store manager, Matthew Dailor, remembered the pair from four years ago.

“You guys were in Brooklyn too, right?” he asked them. “That’s insane!”

Dailor is a 30-year Wegmans veteran and touted the same thing as many of the fans, namely the friendliness of its staff.

“That’s always been our competitive advantage is our people,” he told the Daily News. “From a competition standpoint within New York City, there’s a lot of really great employers, a lot of great stores, a lot of really exciting things going on, and we’re excited to be in that mix with everybody else kind of with our own spin.”

In addition to typical produce and supermarket fare, the store has a wide variety of prepared food options, plus stations for made-to-order seafood, pizza, sandwiches, salads and more. While there is no seating, a dining room is set to open early next year with a focus on sushi.

“It’s a pleasant place to shop,” said Michael Zorek, 63, who lives on the Upper West Side and works in retail. “I’ll go into some stores in New York, the aisles are this big, everyone’s bumping you with carts and such. Wegmans isn’t like that.”

Minutes after the doors opened to the public his shopping cart was already brimming.

“I didn’t even know where to begin,” he said. “So I just began.”