Tuesday Testimonials.....Part IV

Wegman's How I love Thee.......

To follow up on last week's testimonial, I'll now address my other grocery love, Wegmans.

While ALDI is where I go when I need items fast and cheap, Wegmans is where I go when I have time to linger and feel like being pampered.

What do I mean? Well for one thing my MIL refers to Wegmans as Europe. I called her up one Saturday and when I asked where she was her response was "Oh your FIL and I are in Europe." 

Me - "I'm sorry you're where???" 

MIL - "We're in Wegmans but I call it Europe because it reminds me of an old world village with the way they have it set up; with all the fancy food and the decorations. We get a coffee and just walk around looking at things, pretending we're in Europe." She cracks me up.

But, she's right - the store is so amazingly clean and decorated/set up a little bit like an old fashioned market. They have a great seating area if you want to have lunch/dinner and some days they even have a band/musician playing so you have music to shop by.

There's a cheese section, bakery, flower stand and of course all the fresh produce.They also have a really great health food section called Nature's Marketplace, that carries just about anything you can think of. Veggie Burgers, soy milk, yogurt, organic juices, etc. A couple of friends who suffer from gluten issues, tell me they have a great selection of gluten free items as well as offering recipes and a support group through their website. Gluten Free

I also love their prepared foods department. This is the place to go when you want a variety of things to choose from. Pizza? They'll make it while you wait. Sushi? Watch them make it fresh right in front of you. Saturday morning and you feel like an omelet? Coming right up and made to order. Charlie the Butcher for a beef on weck sandwich, Chinese bar, salad bar, a wing(!) bar, soups and chili.  In addition to all this, they now also offer $6 meals. You choose an entree and 2 sides for $6.  Below is just one meal combination you could put together. $6 Meals - check out the link to see what meal you could come up with. :)

They also feature an in store catering department - you can order online or sit down with someone in store. We used this for a baby shower and the great thing is that when we went to pick up the food, cake and drinks, we didn't have to go to separate areas for it. The staff went to each department and collected everything for us while we waited.

Which brings me to my favorite thing about Wegmans.

Their customer service is OUTSTANDING.

Let me count the ways for you:

• When it's windy out they put up signs reminding people that IT'S WINDY OUT - PLEASE RETURN CARTS so that they won't run into people's cars.
• Their bathrooms are always clean and decorated unlike most public restrooms. Oh, and for the mom's shopping with a little one who may be caught without an extra diaper? They even have that covered.
• When it's raining, there are employees waiting at the entrances with an umbrella and will escort you to your car if you'd like. If you don't want the escort they will let you take the umbrella with you and you just leave it in the cart and they pick it up. 
• They also have umbrella holders on the sides of the cart, so if you bring your own umbrella with you, it goes in the holder and you're not dripping water all over the floor, creating a safety hazard.
• They have cup holders that attach to the shopping carts so you can have a cup of coffee (yes they have their own coffee bar too) while you shop. 
• They offer curbside service for your groceries, which I think is wonderful for elderly people or for a woman shopping by herself later in the evening. When you check out you tell them you would like this service and they give you a ticket with a number that coordinates to your order. You leave your cart with them and simply pull your cart up to the designated spot and they load the bags for you.
• They offer a children's play area called WKids Fun Center, where parents can drop their kids off while they do their shopping. The kids are entertained in a safe environment and the parents can get in and out faster.
• Oh and the part about the windy cart sign? My sister was shopping at her local store once, and when she got to her car she saw that a runaway cart had hit the side leaving a smudge in the paint job. A manager took her information and gave her his card asking that she let them know the cost once she had gotten an estimate. Her garage ended up being able to buff the spot out at no cost, which she emailed the manager to let them know and to thank them for the good customer service. She received a gift card from Wegmans a few days later as a thank you for being a customer.

Now that is what I call service!