Have you ever lined up overnight for a movie or the new iPhone, or stood in line for hours to be in the front row at a concert? Well, what about doing that for a grocery store? It could happen soon as Wegmans prepares to open its first store in Charlotte. The Charlotte Ledger’s Ashley Fahey joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: The Wegmans is set to open October 14 in Ballantyne. Surely people aren’t already lining up, are they?
Ashley Fahey: I wouldn't be surprised if they were. The level of mania this grocery store seems to evoke in people is really unparalleled to anything I've seen before. With the opening date being October 14, it seems like folks are already mapping out how soon they can get out there to camp and get in line.
Terry: What is it about Wegmans that inspires such devotion, like you’re talking about?
Fahey: I've actually not been to one myself, but I keep hearing about the sort of quality of the products, their prepared food sections, and the selection. These are very large grocery stores. Those are some of the things that people kind of cite as far as what they love so much about Wegmans. Of course, this being the first one for Charlotte, it's certainly a notable thing.
Terry: With all the higher-end grocery stores that have moved into the Charlotte market in the past two decades, are we nearing saturation?
Fahey: I would say probably not. We have a lot of folks moving to Charlotte, and I think grocers are very strategic and very careful about when they enter a market. Wegmans has been wanting to move into Charlotte for some time now. They don't open more than three to five stores per year, I think. So I think a lot of the grocers moving in here are very intentional and very strategic. If they're moving in, I think, they feel pretty good about the market they're moving into.
Terry: The CEO of one of Charlotte’s largest companies recently weighed in on the economy in Charlotte more broadly and also the future of his company. What did Vimal Kapur of Honeywell say?
Fahey: Kapur was here to lead company leaders in ringing the NASDAQ closing bell right here in Charlotte from their headquarters in uptown. He spent some time talking to the media. This is not a CEO we necessarily see or talk to a whole lot. He basically was just saying how they've hired over 1,000 people since they've committed to Charlotte a few years ago, and they continue to see potential for hiring more folks in Charlotte. He basically talked a lot about AI and they feel like that's going to be important, especially for the manufacturer’s capabilities. He feels pretty good about Charlotte, specifically and the growth here.
Terry: Finally, an organization in Charlotte is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year — something that seems rare in this city. How did the Junior League make it to the century mark?
Fahey: The Junior League, of course, is part of a broader organization. They have chapters across the U.S., but in Charlotte, it was founded locally in 1926 by 30 women. Since then, the group has contributed more than 1.7 million volunteer hours and more than $13 million to different projects throughout the Charlotte area.
As far as how you stay relevant after 100 years in a place like Charlotte, I think it's just continuing to bring in new members, getting creative with how you approach things. As far as I know, there's over 1,000 members today, certainly substantial. To your point, we don't see a lot of 100-year-old organizations in Charlotte necessarily.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson & Associates.
