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The rumors are true: Fan-favorite grocer Wegmans is coming to Manhattan. The company is taking over the former location of the eerie Astor Place Kmart at 770 Broadway, whose July closure sparked an avalanche of tributes to the longstanding, “vaguely creepy” store.
The new Wegmans is slated to open in the second half of 2023, according to an announcement from the real estate company behind the deal. The grocer signed a 30-year lease for the street and lower levels of the building, taking over a whopping 82,000 square feet.
This location marks the company’s second grocery story in NYC following an October 2019 smash debut in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At the time, thousands of fervent Wegmans fans — known as Wegmaniacs — turned out for the chain’s upleveled grocery shopping experience, from overflowing produce aisles to the bargain made-to-order sushi counter. Details are still scarce on what the Manhattan Wegmans will offer, but it occupies even more square footage than the Brooklyn location, which critic Robert Sietsema likened to “a hangar for a fleet of jumbo jets.”
Since opening, the grocery store has “been a reliable partner” in its Brooklyn neighborhood, the local community board chairman said in a statement for the Manhattan opening announcement. The Rochester, New York based chain currently has 106 locations in northeastern states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
