Free Groceries at Wegmans

OK, not for everyone.

But a few lucky people at one Syracuse area store can thank technology failure for their free groceries today.

Why No Wegmans in Albany?

As mentioned in a previous post, a huge new Wegmans store in Henrietta near Rochester will be opening Sunday.

Of course, that's great news for the local Rochester area. Meanwhile, multiple stores continue to operate in Buffalo and Syracuse.

But why has Wegmans ignored the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area all of these years? Let's look at some demographics:

Metro Area --- Population
Buffalo --- 1,170,111
Rochester --- 1,039,028
Syracuse --- 732,117
Jamestown --- 30,726
Ithaca --- 29,952
-----------------------------------
Albany --- 850,957

Of course, population density is not the sole determining factor for Wegmans to consider, but one wonders why Albany, the state's capital, has been left out for so long? It's a relatively wealthy area with Saratoga Springs, universities and other job centers. And plenty of people.

With talk of expanding to Boston, perhaps Albany will finally become a Wegmans town, otherwise, there will be an even larger hole on the store locator map.

The current expansion pattern and new stores are centered in the D.C. suburbs, which makes sense as there is plenty of disposable income and people in that major metro region.

But why not Albany? What's wrong with Albany?