NORWALK – If everything goes as planned on July 23, Wegmans – the first in the state – will welcome customers at its new Connecticut Avenue store and they will enter the produce section and shop while others will take the escalator upstairs to the café and some with their smartphones will pick up their meals to go.
The 92,000-square-foot supermarket planned for 675 Connecticut Ave. will become the 111th operated by the Rochester, New York-based company. The property was appraised in 2023 for $30.67 million, according to city public records. It was purchased in 2022 for $22.5 million by Wegmans Food Markets Inc.
They are located throughout the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states – New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Delaware, and Washington, D.C.
On a recent tour of the Wegmans construction site, Norwalk Store Manager Emily Gee showed the Fairfield County Business Journal around a good portion of the 92,000 square feet.
“We break the store into four quadrants,” she said. “There is the perishable area of the store, which is produce, meat, bakery, seafood, deli, cheese and floral. We have our total restaurant foods area, which includes sushi, pizza, subs.
“Then there is the merchandising side of the store. That includes groceries, dairy, frozen, home and entertainment, health and wellness. On the front end, we have the service side of the store. That’s cashiers, attendants, helping hands, service desk, meals to go (our catering line), cart to curb area.”
The store will also have an app where customers can order anything and pick it up from the store as well as checking the availability of items. “We will also be on Uber and Door Dash,” she added.
Hiring a staff of workers
The Norwalk store, which is on the site of a former office building, plans to hire 500 employees by July 23.
“We’re looking for enthusiastic candidates to round out our team before opening day,” Gee said. “We’re excited to begin the countdown to July 23 when we can welcome the Norwalk community through our doors.”
Fourteen full service registers and 12 self-service checkouts will be available at the store, Gee said.
Part-time and full-time roles are available, ranging from customer service positions in merchandising, service, culinary, and perishable departments, to entry-level management roles. Gee added that the store has about 200 positions to fill.
Paid training will begin immediately and continue until at least May 2025. The training location will be the Harrison, New York, store, which is located at 106 Corporate Park Drive.
According to Gee, the company expects the developer and construction companies to deliver the store to Wegmans with enough time to prepare for opening.
Additionally, the parking garage, which is mostly complete, will have 551 parking spaces and 12 Tesla charging stations on the bottom level.
Full-time job applicants are invited to apply online at jobs.wegmans.com, or call 203-299-3333 for more information. Interviews are conducted by appointment only and applications are not accepted at the store construction site.
