Wegmans store draws about 20,000 people on opening day
By Bill Freehling

Date published: 6/23/2009

About 20,000 people came to Wegmans for opening day of the Fredericksburg store Sunday, a company spokeswoman said.

"It was as busy as any opening day we've seen in recent years," said Jo Natale, spokeswoman for the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocery chain.

To put that number in perspective, the population of Fredericksburg was estimated at 22,291 as of a 2007 count by the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.

People were lined up outside the 139,000-square-foot store in Celebrate Virginia South when doors opened to the public for the first time at 7 a.m. Sunday.

The people continued to flow in throughout the day. Police cars directed traffic, overflow parking nearly filled the Fredericksburg Expo Center's lot and one trip through the Wegmans lot without even finding a space took 15 minutes Sunday afternoon.

"We were extremely pleased," Natale said. "It was among our most successful openings."

In order to bring Wegmans to Fredericksburg, the City Council in 2007 approved a tax-based incentives package that would waive $1.7 million of the grocer's business license taxes over a 10-year period. To start taking advantage of that waiver, Wegmans must generate at least $300,000 in tax revenue, so the city would get at least $130,000 a year in new money.

In applying for the incentive, Wegmans stated that it expected its Fredericksburg store to generate $60 million in annual sales. That would bring the city $600,000 a year in business license taxes.

Wegmans' second day had a touch of excitement. The store was evacuated yesterday afternoon because a fire alarm sounded, but customers were allowed back inside after about 15 minutes.

Natatia Bledsoe of the Fredericksburg Police Department, said a haze was discovered in the elevator control room around 2:47 p.m. after a fan in the cool- ing system malfunctioned. There were no flames and no one was injured, although shopping was disturbed while firefighters checked the building.