Wegman’s has been open about a year now.  I wrote a review after it initially opened, but I thought I should revisit it.  I also completed my price comparisons between BJs & Wegman’s this week.

To follow-up on my review from a year back, I have been to Wegman’s more than I thought I would, especially over the summer when I was getting local produce from the farm stands and farmer’s markets.  I find their produce is often higher priced than Stop & Shop, but most other departments are priced better.  So, I spent the summer buying local produce, meats at BJs, and aisle items at Wegman’s.  Part of this also is that Stop & Shop was annoying me by making it hard to get bags, discontinuing items we purchase, and just generally being a less friendly place to shop.  And, while Wegman’s is still farther from our house, Stop & Shop is close to preschool which I’m not at in the summer.

All that being said, I’ve found some items at Wegman’s we really don’t like.  Specifically:

• Store brand bottled water – I tried twice and the boys thought it tasted terrible.
• Store brand egg noodles – They were much gummier than Stop & Shop.
• Store brand deli meats – I tried a few though turkey and hard salami stood out as not great.
• White mushrooms – I would have thought these would be fail proof, but two tries and neither were very good, and spoiled fast.
• Store brand extra sharp cheddar cheese – It doesn’t compare to Cracker Barrel (which Wegman’s doesn’t sell).
• Store brand pizza dough – It doesn’t compare to Boston Pizza Company (which Wegman’s doesn’t sell).

On the plus side, most of the store brand items I have tried we’ve been happy with – salad dressings, cream cheese, breads, etc.  I’ve also been happy with both their seafood and meat departments.  And, the aisle items are still cheaper than Stop & Shop.

So, this past week I was able to complete the price comparisons between Wegman’s and BJs.  I’d been hoping to do this for a while as Wegman’s advertises that their Family Packs make club memberships unnecessary.  Well, its still necessary.  I checked 30 items across all departments except produce (which I only rarely buy at BJs anyway).  I only found five items – pork butt, NY strip steak, Babybel cheeses, Swanson beef broth, and Kosher salt – that are cheaper at Wegman’s using standard pricing.  Most items are decidedly more.  There are some that are basically the same – whole chickens, milk (with Wegman’s card), Finish tabs, 3oz bath cups, cream of mushroom soup, and tomato paste.  I think generally, though I’ll stick with my basic categorizations for purchases and continue to look for sales, especially the best of the year variety.