Wegmans Staffing Up for Highly Anticipated Opening

Wegmans food market, a BCW member, is well on its way to recruiting employees for its new store, which is expected to open in April on Corporate Park Drive in Harrison. The Rochester-based supermarket has already hired 75 to 80 employees and is hoping to hire up to 500 people before the store opens.

“We started our hiring as of April 1,” said Matthew Dailor, manager of the Harrison store. “We’re trying to hire over 500 so we’re always looking for good people. Currently, our folks are training in our Montvale, New Jersey, location, which is some 30 minutes away.”

The Harrison store, along with a store at the Brooklyn Navy Yard scheduled to open Oct. 27, represent a stepped-up presence for the chain in the New York metro market. As of Aug. 1, it listed 99 stores in operation: 46 in New York; 18 in Pennsylvania; 9 in New Jersey; 12 in Virginia; 8 in Maryland; and 6 in Massachusetts. Wegmans has approximately 49,000 employees and last year had sales of $9.2 billion.

Wegmans bought the property in Harrison for $26.5 million from Normandy Real Estate Partners. The approved site plan for the Harrison store was for a 121,000-square-foot facility on the 20-acre site. Dailor said plans also include a covered outdoor seating area overlooking the supermarket’s north parking lot and a Burger Bar, which is a popular attraction at other Wegmans stores.

Marsha Gordon, President and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester, said the Wegmans store is the perfect fit for the location along I-287 which is now being repurposed from office parks to residential and retail. “Everyone is very excited about a well-respected company such as Wegmans coming to Westchester,” said Gordon. “It will be a great addition to the Corporate Park Drive area and attract residents living in the new housing planned for the area. We can’t wait for the opening.”

Dailor said Wegmans uses jobs.wegmans.com in its recruiting efforts and also invites prospects to call the Westchester hiring office at 914-539-3700. Approximately 220 of the 500 jobs in Harrison will be full time.