Texas has a hankering for Wegmans.
Financial media company MarketBeat surveyed 3,011 people in September about brands they wish were closer to home.
The No. 1 pick among residents of the Lone Star State, where the dominant grocery store chain is San Antonio-based H-E-B, was Wegmans.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which reported on the survey Oct. 9, highlighted Wegmans’ cult-like following, noting that a record 3,000 people lined up for the opening of Wegmans’ Raleigh, North Carolina, store six years ago — its first in that state.
What are the odds of Wegmans expanding west of there to Texas?
Not good. New store growth is concentrated in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, the company website shows.
And despite opening two or three stores a year along the Eastern Seaboard, Wegmans has no plans to go nationwide, company president and CEO Colleen Wegman revealed in a segment that aired May 4 on the popular TV magazine show “CBS Sunday Morning.”
“It’s our goal to go to every store at least once a year because we want a personal relationship with our store management,” she said.
Added her sister Nicole Wegman, president of the Wegmans brand, “Our grandfather started that, so we like to stay small enough where we can still do that.”
Founded as a produce business in Rochester in 1916, Wegmans now operates more than 110 stores across New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Delaware and Washington, D.C.
MarketBeat study results were based on an online panel survey. The sample was designed to reflect a balanced mix across age, gender and geography.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Wegmans is the grocery chain Texans want most. But they likely won’t get one
Reporting by Marcia Greenwood, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
