Wegmans' opening day draws serious shoppers and plenty of foodie tourists to Central Park's Celebrate Virginia
BY LAURA MOYER

Date published: 6/22/2009

BY LAURA MOYER

Nicholas and Andrew Pisani had the right attitude yesterday as they navigated the packed aisles of Fredericksburg's new Wegmans with their mom, Jennifer.

"We like adventures," said Nicholas, 11. "And we got hit by a cart!" added Andrew, 8.

It was exciting stuff for the intrepid Pisani team, who made the 70-minute trip from their home in the Westmoreland County seat of Montross a few hours after the Celebrate Virginia South store's 7 a.m. opening.

With company coming later in the afternoon, Jennifer and the boys efficiently maneuvered through people-packed aisles and amassed a cartful of steaks, corn and a store-made Key lime pie before heading to one of the 27 checkout lines.

They detoured just long enough to snag some samples--a taste of cinnamon cake, some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese just chipped off the wheel, and a couple of spoonfuls of butter brickle ice cream.

Customer Patsy Coleman headed to the new store right after church, still dressed in a lacy white frock, stylish summer hat, hose and heels. But as a shopper she was all business, clutching a sheaf of Wegmans coupons and keeping an eye out for bargains.

"I'm an educated consumer," she said. "I shop where the deal is good."

Other Wegmans customers took a more leisurely approach, pushing two-tiered shopping carts through crowded aisles but only occasionally adding an item.

It was reconnaissance, really--learning what was available, where things were, and how much stuff cost.

Employees were deployed throughout the store to answer questions and give directions. It wasn't always simple.

Shoppers soon realized that a question like "Where's the bread?" doesn't have just one answer. There's bread at the in-store bakery, all different kinds, made daily. And there's bagged bread in the more traditional grocery aisles. They're not close together.

In the sprawling wine section, a customer asked, "Where's your Riesling?" only to be pointed in one direction for domestic, another for imported--then led by an employee to do a more specific search.

For much of the day yesterday, the right side of the 139,000-square-foot store was far more crowded than the left.

That's where customers found the bakery, the extensive cheese shop and several mind-boggling meat counters.

The right side is also something of a gastronome's theme park. There's a coffee bar, a patisserie, a sushi station, a sit-down seafood bar with wine and beer by the glass, a burrito and panini bar, a kosher deli, a crab-cake counter, and a Thai and Indian buffet, among other things.

There's seating on the main floor, or diners can take their meals upstairs to sit on a balcony facing Fall Hill Avenue or at indoor tables overlooking the aisles.

That's where Thomas Baer and his children could be found yesterday about 1 p.m., quietly finishing their lunches and, frankly, gawking.

Christie and Nicole Baer, 15 and 13, ate sushi and pizza at one table. Caleb, 8, and his dad polished off pizza and chicken wings at another.

The girls waved to a lost-looking friend on the main floor. "We're people-watching," Christie called out.

This day, Thomas Baer said, the Fredericksburg family would limit their Wegmans excursion to lunch.

"I might come and do some grocery shopping here," he said. "But I need to let the craze go down a bit."