The Columbia Wegmans should open in Summer 2012, a Wegmans spokesman told the Columbia Patch.
Things are serious now. Wegmans rented office space for the next year, reported Wordbones. They're finally giving a date, which seems great. I may push the public demonstration to Memorial Day 2012 -- better weather, and we'll be closer.
If you're interested in Wegmans, join the I Want The Columbia Wegmans Facebook page and post there. Some new Facebook system means that new members must be approved by current ones. Feel free to invite and approve your friends.
9 comments:
I can't understand why it is taking so long. They put up whole housing developments in 6 months.
Thank the unions! They have long out-lived their usefulness. Just look at what they have done to the American car industry...what is left of it that is!
Wegmans uses non-union labor...thus they are fighting the construction at all turns. They also use non-union workers. So, I am sure the UFCW is not too excited about yet another Wegmans in MD.
Precisely.
For whatever reason several outside parties were recruited to pick a fight in Columbia/HoCo and delay this Wegmans.
Meanwhile Frederick's Wegmans went up quietly and without much dispute years later in planning and years earlier now in delivery.
Whether that's a reflection of the Columbia Wegman's being a specific target or this being a reflection of Howard County's bureaucratic and legal setup being much more accommodating to these kinds of fights and delays (or both) is an interesting discussion.
Curious what Ken Ulman thinks about all of this. Maybe one of the local Patch folks can track him down.
Joy, tears, all that. I heard that the first week in Frederick they were letting people in as people came out, the aisles were as thick as a NY subway platform during rush hour. So I may wait a little bit to go in. But whatever. I'm just glad it's finally happening. Thanks for the update, and hope your trip was nice.
There is a big shot with the UCFW that lives in the Columbia area. He is one of the reasons it took long for the store to be approved, since they are non-union, he bitched. I bet the slow work can be partially blamed on sympathetic union workers.
Yes but...summer 2012 is a year from NOW! So they will have been building it for over a year, after all of the fighting and disputes.
How can it take over a year to build a supermarket? That's what I can't figure out.
@MarkM, I don't know if Buddy Mays is a "big shot" with UCFW. He's president of their local union. He did play a big part in slowing the whole Wegman's process down, though. It's really a shame...
Building for over a year is nothing. Back in 2002 my wife was working with the wife of the guy Wegman's moved here to get all of the stores open. At that time, the plan was that Columbia would be the first store. Thanks to a small but vocal group of misguided neighbors, we'll be the fourth Wegmans. The Hunt Valley store opened in 2005. By my math, the Columbia store will be opening seven years behind schedule.
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