11 Wegmans Quirks Pennsylvanians Know That Visitors Find Baffling

Pennsylvania has 19 Wegmans locations, from Erie to Lancaster to Yardley. Every single one has its own crowd of devoted shoppers.

Walk in for the first time, and you’ll see why outsiders end up confused.

Here are some Wegmans quirks Pennsylvanians know that visitors find baffling.

The Café Has Tons of Seats

Most American grocery stores have a tiny seating area near the deli, maybe four tables and a Starbucks counter.

Wegmans built market cafés instead.

The Lower Makefield Township Wegmans in Bucks County has 156 seats in its in-store café, with some dedicated for outside seating during warmer weather.

King of Prussia’s location has an outdoor fireplace, a wooden pergola, and a full alfresco dining area.

First-time visitors wander in and ask if it’s a restaurant attached to the store. Pennsylvanians know it’s both, and they treat the café like a regular dinner spot two or three times a week.

The Model Train Runs Over the Dairy Section

This one excites visitors fast.

Many Wegmans locations feature a model train running above the dairy department, with Wegmans-branded cars chugging in circles all day long.

The trains were originally placed in the bulk foods section before moving to dairy.

Kids stop dead in front of the milk case. Visitors get out their phones.

Pennsylvanians don’t even notice the train anymore. It’s just background.

The Store Brand Beats the National Brands

Wegmans’ store brand isn’t an afterthought. It’s the headline.

A Kiplinger study compared store-brand baskets at Wegmans, Giant, Harris Teeter, and Whole Foods on eight everyday items.

Wegmans won with a basket totaling $14.62, beating Giant at $15.03, Harris Teeter at $20.00, and Whole Foods at $21.13.

The quality holds up to the price. Wegmans store-brand pasta, sauces, dairy, and frozen goods get cited by food writers as some of the best in the industry.

Pennsylvania shoppers fill carts with Wegmans-brand everything. Visitors keep reaching for the name brands out of habit and paying more.

Some Locations Have Multi-Story Parking Garages

The Reston, Virginia, and Washington, DC locations have hundreds of parking spots in garages directly beneath the store. The Columbia, Maryland, and Burlington, Massachusetts, stores feature two-story designs with multi-level garages.

Pennsylvania’s larger locations follow similar logic at the bigger sites.

A special cart conveyor system runs alongside an escalator to bring groceries to the parking level.

Visitors from states with strip-mall grocery stores walk into a multi-story Wegmans and ask if they’re in the right building.

Pennsylvanians know to head for the elevator with the cart.

The Wine and Beer Selection Is Massive

The Lower Makefield Township Wegmans carries approximately 1,200 wines and 500 varieties of domestic, craft, and imported beers and hard ciders.

Across the states it operates in, 41 Wegmans locations carry both wine and beer. 48 stores offer beer only. Seven stores carry the full range, including spirits.

Pennsylvania’s liquor laws are notoriously strict, so the Wegmans wine and beer departments are some of the few one-stop options in the state.

Visitors from California or Texas walk in expecting a standard grocery wine section.

Pennsylvanians walk in expecting a cellar with 200 Partner Select wines and a fine wine room controlling temperature and humidity.

The Cookies Have Their Own Pod

The bakery at newer Wegmans locations gets divided into sections. Desserts on one side. Breads and breakfast items on another.

And then there’s the cookie pod.

A separate area dedicated to cookies, built to meet what Wegmans store managers describe as the “growing demand for cookies.”

Chocolate chip. Sugar. M&M. Snickerdoodle. Whoopie pies.

Pennsylvanians stop at the cookie pod on the way to checkout. Visitors from out of state are baffled that a cookie deserves its own section inside the store.

The Sushi Is Made to Order

Most grocery sushi gets prepared at a central kitchen, shipped to stores, and put on ice.

Wegmans makes it fresh, in the store, by trained sushi chefs.

The Lower Makefield Wegmans sushi area features 25 different varieties, with the kitchen broken up so chefs can do made-to-order sushi production for customers who want a custom roll.

Pennsylvania shoppers order sushi at Wegmans the way other people order from a sushi restaurant.

Visitors who grew up on Walmart sushi take one look and lose their minds.

The Stores Are Massive

The largest Wegmans is in DeWitt, New York, at 160,000 square feet. The Lower Makefield Wegmans clocks in at 88,000 square feet.

For comparison, a typical Publix runs about 50,000 square feet. A standard Walmart Supercenter runs about 180,000 square feet.

Wegmans sits in between, with the size of a Walmart and the polish of a Whole Foods.

Pennsylvanians know to allow 30 minutes for a “quick” Wegmans run.

Visitors plan on 20 minutes and walk out two hours later.

The Cheese Section Gets a Man Cave

The Lower Makefield Wegmans has a dedicated “man cave” for cheeses.

A massive case with hundreds of varieties. Cheddars from Wisconsin and Ireland. French bries and camemberts. Italian parmigiano-reggianos. Spanish manchegos. Local Pennsylvania farmstead cheeses.

A cheese specialist stands behind the counter to help with pairings and let shoppers try samples before buying.

Pennsylvania shoppers treat the cheese case like a charcuterie field trip.

Visitors who came in for milk wonder how they ended up with $40 of cheese.

The Customer Service Is Excellent

Wegmans employees’ average pay runs 30 to 40% above the industry average.

Turnover sits at just 17% overall and 4% for full-time staff.

Many Wegmans managers started as teenagers within the company.

The result is staff who actually know the store, the products, and the regular customers by name.

Pennsylvania shoppers ask the deli guy about his weekend. Visitors who grew up on Walmart-style service are surprised when an employee walks them to the aisle instead of pointing.

Wegmans Stores Have a Pittsburgh-Style Loyalty

Wegmans superfans are real.

The company has its own Twitter hashtag, #Wegmania.

Customers regularly write “love letters” to Wegmans requesting stores in their hometowns. More than 4,000 people contacted the company in one year asking for new locations.