Wegmans’ first Long Island supermarket opening in Lake Grove Wednesday

Wegmans will raise the curtain on its first supermarket on Long Island on Wednesday.

Set to open to the public at 9 a.m., the Wegmans in Lake Grove occupies 101,000 square feet, making it the biggest supermarket on Long Island, excluding supercenters and warehouse clubs.

Wegmans is a Rochester-based grocery chain with a cultlike following.

Its Lake Grove store was buzzing Monday with media tours, as well as store employees stocking shelves, cooking and training.

Anticipation for the store has been high, said 13-year Wegmans employee Melissa Vetrecin, who is an assistant store manager overseeing perishable areas. One of the reasons for that is Wegmans’ diverse product offerings that provide one-stop shopping, eliminating the need for shoppers to visit multiple stores for different needs, she said.

“So, you hear from a lot of customers that they have to go to one store for organics or another store for their store brand or this store for the lowest price in the market. We’ve got all of that in one location,” she said. “You can buy dry-aged steak here or you can buy the best-priced bananas in the market, so we’re really that one-stop shop.”

Located at 3270 Middle Country Rd., the Lake Grove store has a “cookie pod” offering fresh-baked items, a self-service coffee station, made-to-order and premade salads and sandwiches, a pizza department where pies are made daily, a sushi bar and an old-world cheese department, the grocer said.

The store also includes an 86-seat café and dedicates 10,285 square feet to prepared foods.

More than 500 employees have been hired for the Lake Grove store.

Wegmans employees’ high level of customer service helps differentiate the chain from other grocers, store manager Dawn Cooper said during a media tour of the store Monday.

“Our people are passionate about it. … And I think that’s what makes us different. Like anybody can sell tomatoes, but not everybody can come over and tell you why this tomato is the best tomato that you should get,” she said.

Founded in 1916, Wegmans Food Markets Inc. is a family-owned regional supermarket chain with 111 East Coast stores in Washington, D.C., and eight states, including New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The company opens two to three new stores annually, focusing on filling gaps in existing markets, including more urban areas, Wegmans spokeswoman Mandee Puleo said.

Besides the Lake Grove location, two other stores will open this year — in Rockville, Maryland, in June, and Norwalk, Connecticut, in July.

In the past five years, Wegmans has opened 13 stores, some in new markets.

It entered New York City with a Brooklyn location in 2019, followed by stores in Harrison, Westchester County, in 2020, and Manhattan’s Astor Place in October 2023.