Grocery Gauntlet Thrown Down As Whole Foods And Wegmans Plan 2019 Tysons Arrival
Two premier grocery stores are coming to Tysons in 2019.
Whole Foods
First, northern Virginia’s biggest Whole Foods will open its 70k SF store at The Boro in 2019.
“Tysons Corner is truly a growing hub for the DC area — it deserves a store that will evolve alongside of it,” WFM Mid-Atlantic region president Scott Allshouse said.
“Whole Foods is a major brand known for exceptional quality, and it will be an outstanding anchor for our new 3.7M SF development (The Boro),” Meridian president and co-founder David Cheek said.
It will benefit from proximity to the Greensboro metro station and the foot traffic that comes with the prime position.
Whole Foods may be characterized by its intensely health-conscious, eco-friendly products (and the high prices they command), which keeps a dedicated cadre of shoppers coming back, but the grocer below takes the cake for loyalty.
Wegmans
Wegmans will be integrated into the new Capital One Bank HQ.
“The addition of Wegmans — widely recognized as a top supermarket and retail employer — will help fuel the transformation of Tysons into an urban center that is a remarkable destination to live, work and play,” said Capital One vice president of workplace solutions Barry Mark, who presided over Capital One’s rezoning of its HQ, planning to transform it into a nearly 5M SF, 12-building corporate campus.
A study of 10,000 consumers conducted by Market Force Information found Wegmans to be America’s favorite grocery store. The store edged out the previous year’s winner, Trader Joe’s, with high scores in cleanliness, item availability and checkout speed, among other categories.
Undoubtedly, shoppers will be torn between the two enticing options, and may simply pick the closer grocer.
Both Whole Foods and Wegmans have invested heavily in designing stores that emphasize convenient, grab-and-go options for a growing Millennial workforce.
Stores have had to make certain changes, like increasing the checkout process' efficiency with express lanes and enlisting large, multi-pronged teams to coordinate the preparation and presentation of a number of fresh but highly perishable options.
