I came home yesterday to find a large envelope from Wegmans. In it was a very slick mailer with a business reply card informing me that Wegmans wants to close its existing Transit Road store in East Amherst and move it further north on Transit on the Clarence side of the street. The proposed new store will be 140k square feet and have all the fancy amenities that the mega Weggies in Hamburg and on Sheridan have. Yes, an expanded prepared foods section would be quite welcome, thx.
Wegmans plans to bring its proposal to the Town Board on June 10th, and this is the first I’ve heard of it. It’s an interesting way for the company to get its side of the story out preemptively to the community-at-large, and one I’ve never seen before in town.
Photos of the mailers are after the jump.
The Buffalo Record 
Wegmans, Genny Cream Ale and decent chicken wings.
The only things I miss about Buffalo.
God forbid they just expand the “Already existing building” But hey – its just the environment we are ruining.
Wegmans is simply the best! I was at the Sheridan store the other day, and the sushi selection was awesome…and a separate Indian food bar…mmmmm…wish I lived closer 🙂
pretty sad when a government has become so disconnected and distant from it’s residents that wegmans has to do something like this.
I hate the new Wegman’s exterior design model. Its so faux and tacky. Its all about selling its product in brochures like this, but has absolutely no functionality. This isn’t town hall they’re opening up. They need to come up with a much more “market” like design.
Unfortunately, a lot of people like the faux crap. Just look at the new Galleria projects.
Of course it’s about selling the product. It’s going to be on Transit for cripes sake! It has to blend in with the likes of Target, Lowes, Wal Mart, and other giant strip malls. Consider it “matching surrounding architectural style”
The New Wegmans will be a blight on the area. It has no access from Transit and will clog the one lane Roll Rd. It will also make the quality of life in the neighborhood it will disrupt at par with the worst neighborhood in Buffalo.
Wegmans lied about a lot of things in their propaganda letter. Jobs, taxes, etc…. All lied. It will just leapfrog across Transit and destroy a quiet neighborhood. The lost propety taxes due to falling home values will make it a loss for the Town.
Look down the street, there are 4 other grocery stores within a mile. Wegmans is nuts. And, what will happen to the empty old Wegmans. Do I hear SUPERTARGET.
The SUPER Wegmans-MART is just not needed. I have now boycotted Wegmans for good. It is just another big box trying to bully real people. Any Town Board member who supports Wegmans should be audited by the IRS for taking bribes from Wegmans.
STEEL- It is to costly to expand the current store. You have Target to the right, plaza on the left, subdivision on the back, and the parking lot that gets full really fast. To expand a second story would require the store to be shut down and any smart business would just move.
Doug Webster- THEY DO HAVE AN ENTRANCE ON TRANSIT ROAD. ITS THE ONE THAT GOES INTO THE FIELD WHERE THE STORE IS PLANNED ON BEING BUILT. Its next to Lake Shore Savings Bank. There will be a 100 foot buffer zone on all sides from the neighborhood. There will also be an entrance and exit on Roll Road.
There will be 200 new full and part time jobs on top of the 394 that already exist. 250 construction jobs too.
EDIT: There are two entrances and exits on Transit and I’m sure that they will build a larger one/ make one of the larger.
Lemme see. Will turn East Amherst into a neighborhood worse than anything in the city.
Lost property taxes due to declining home values (didn’t happen when they built the new one on Alberta)
Destroy a quiet neighborhood. Would that be from all the wild tailgate parties in the parking lot I hear so much about?
Anyone who votes for it must be on the take.
Sounds like a post from BRO.
BTW, Target always builds new. So watch for that coming to your quiet neighborhood!
“It will also make the quality of life in the neighborhood it will disrupt at par with the worst neighborhood in Buffalo. ”
Totally true. Completely rational statement.
Living in Clarence will instantly turn into living in the fruit belt because of a giant Wegmans.
(God do I love delusional suburanites.)
Andrew,
We can’t keep making excuses as we destroy the planet that gives us life.
Has anyone taken into account that with the new traffic from this on Transit, it will be almost impossible to get out of Transit Middle School? It’s hard enough now. Just look at the traffic impacts farther down Transit at the Sonic Car wash. Why doesn’t Wegmans just build a new smaller store on the Clarence side to complement their current facility across the street instead of building an less welcome mega store? Are there any tax abatement incentives being taken for this project-moving business from one part of Erie county to another while leaving empty buildings in its wake?
I’ll go back to Wegman’s when they let you use a house discount card. Is it too much to ask to get the advertised price without the privacy invasion?
What do YOU think, Alan?
It’s Transit Road. You don’t live within a block of Transit Road in that area and not expect something massive to get built there. It’s also Wegmans, and people like Wegmans, and the people who don’t live near the site outnumber the people who do. I’d like it to be built, and I’d like it to be built on the Clarence side of Transit.
I like Wegman’s too. Wish they could pick up that one next to Target and move it to Lockport.
This NEW WEGMANS SUPERSTORE project is socially irresponsible and ill-conceived. The project is TOO LARGE on a site that is TOO SMALL.
Wegmans has told their employees at the Transit Road Store that this is a done deal. Their fliers are FULL of the typical large corporation rhetoric. Jobs and taxes.
Unfortunately there are a large number of unfortunate truths that Wegmans and their developers do not want anyone to know.
1. They have NOT gotten approval from the Town of Clarence to REZONE the 7 acres of single family residential land, that the store is to be built on to Major arterial commercial. The town’s master plan that was enacted in 2001zoned it that was to PROTECT the existing neighborhoods.
2. The proposed 100′ buffer zone will be the SMALLEST in the Town of Clarence along the Transit commercial corridor. This will set a dangerous precedent for future development along Transit that could endanger more neighborhoods and hundreds of homes.
3. The last Bella Vista Group development that was successfully built in the Town of Clarence was the SUPER WALMART. Everyone who travels along Transit between Sheridan and Maple/Greiner KNOW what a nightmare traffic is. The neighborhoods directly behind Walmart are continually picking up trash and other debris that gets blown from the Walmart site. Bella Vista did not do what it said it would to protect the adjacent neighborhoods from lighting, sounds and other pollutants.
The residential homes behind the current Wegmans on Transit Road were built AFTER Wegmans. People who bought those homes knew they were moving in behind a major commercial space. They also bought their homes for substantially less because of their location. Even thought the buffer is LARGER than the proposed one at the new store, they can hear the truck traffic, snow plows parking lot vacuums, compactors and a whole host of other noises clear as day 24/7.
The residents of the Town of Clarence are not against development. We are not against new jobs and taxes. We are not against Wegmans. We are against this project because it will endanger children and severely impact the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhoods.
There are other options that will meet the goals of Wegmans and not have an adverse impact on the Town of Clarence.
I love the fact that Wegman employees are instructed not to voice their opinions about this issue, as it may effect their jobs! I like Wegmans, but think they are way off on trying to build this big box store on that site. How about building it towards Lockport more, there is no Wegmans there and I’m sure there is plenty of customers that would love it. Just keep our Wegmans like it is.
Also, Transit Road will be even worse than it is now. Those poor kids from the middle school trying to cross Transit Road won’t have a chance at all! JUST BUILD IT SOMEWHERE ELSE, IT”S NOT PART OF CLARENCE’S MASTER PLAN.