Wegmans executives said they are eyeing late 2027 as the target date to open their recently announced Cranberry location and hinted there could be more stores coming to the Pittsburgh area.
The store still has to get final approval from Cranberry Township and enter the permitting process for the proposed 115,000-square-foot store, according to Dan Aken, vice president of real estate and store planning for Wegmans.
For its part, Cranberry Township has lauded the store and called the location “a welcome addition” to the area in a news release.
Aken said Wegmans has been looking at the Pittsburgh market for the past four to five years, but it only recently announced its plans for a 13-acre plot adjacent to the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
The Cranberry development between Interstate 79 and Route 228 was a prime location, Aken said, because of highway access and surrounding restaurants and residential spaces.
The Cranberry location could be the first of several stores in the region.
Aken said Wegmans is “definitely looking at doing additional locations in the market.” Though he said the New York-based chain had a “general idea” of where it would expand, he said plans were not far along enough to confirm.
Gary Fechter, senior vice president for Wegmans’ Pennsylvania division, said the company anticipates hiring 400 to 500 employees for the Cranberry location, most of whom will be locals, he said. Wegmans employees are nonunion in contrast to Giant Eagle laborers who are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers.
The expansion means new competition for ingrained local chains such as Giant Eagle. But Fechter said he’s looking forward to being in Western Pennsylvania. The closest Wegmans stores currently are in Erie and State College.
“Having competition like Giant Eagle is great for us because we love to be side by side with great competitors,” Fechter said. “We’re just looking forward to being in the market.”
