We visited Wegmans in NYC and PCC in Seattle, two cult-favorite grocers. We saw why one is making bigger waves.

Irene Jiang,Shoshy Ciment

Jan 28, 2020, 00:30 IST

We visited Wegmans in NYC and PCC in Seattle, two cult-favorite grocers. We saw why one is making bigger waves.

Wegmans and PCC are two cult-favorite grocery stores in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest regions of the US, respectively.
We went shopping at both stores to compare the experience of the two regional grocers which have generated devoted fan bases on opposite ends of the country.
We found that Wegmans was the superior regional grocer for various reasons, from store design to price.
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In the Northeast, there's Wegmans. In the Pacific Northwest, there's PCC Community Markets.

For shoppers who want more out of a grocery store than the typical corporate fare, these beloved local chains promise local, wholesome food and a shopping experience that's personal and exciting.

Wegmans is a family-owned chain of grocery stores that's continually rated highly for customer and employee satisfaction, and is generally ranked among America's favorite grocery stores. PCC hasn't achieved the same critical acclaim, but it's the largest member-owned food co-op in the US. It's known for its high-quality produce and products - as well as its high prices.

We visited a Wegmans store in New York City and a PCC store in Seattle, Washington to compare the shopping experiences at both and to see which regional grocer is superior.

From its charming store design to its fair prices, Wegmans beat out PCC in this east versus west coastal head-to-head.

Here was our experience:

We went to the PCC location in Fremont, Seattle.

PCC is relatively small, but it's filled with colorful, fresh-looking produce.

Everything, of course, is organic or local. Or both. All of PCC's price tags come with vivid, enticing descriptions of the product.

But these bright, beautiful bunches of veggies came with steep price tags.

If a pound of apples is two to four apples depending on size, these apples cost at least a dollar each.

Still, there was undeniably an incredible variety of produce that would be hard to find anywhere else.

There was even a section featuring fresh, local mushrooms. Mushroom hunting is a semi-popular activity in the northwest, where morels, chanterelles, and pine mushrooms abound in the wild mountains.

But despite a craving for chanterelles, at $13 for pound, we decided it wasn't worth it.

In addition to the plethora of esoteric, expensive vegetables and fungi, there were also some products you'd find in any grocery store, with prices you'd find in any grocery store.

But for the most part, the market felt intensely local.

Although its fresh meat section was small relative to many corporate grocery stores, it was strategically filled.

Signs emphasized that in this market, the focus is on fresh-butchered meat, tailored to the needs of the customer.

Across the aisle from the meat was the cheese section, containing an array of local or organic cheeses.

Each cheese's label came with a flavor description, along with the kind of milk used to make it, kind of enzymes used, place of production, and a suggested wine pairing. They did not come with prices.

PCC's fresh-baked section is tucked into its bread aisle. There's no in-house bakery, and instead, fresh bread is brought from local bakers.

Its fresh loaves were fragrant and gorgeous but also cost over four dollars a pop.

As we moved through the store, we wondered if PCC would have survived or thrived anywhere other than the Pacific Northwest.

There were definitely some great products that have been embraced by the mainstream, like Bob's Red Mill flour, which is also sold at Trader Joe's.

However, there were other products that raised our eyebrows, such as probiotic cream cheese.

There was one aisle in particular that set off a few alarm bells: the vitamins and supplements section.

In addition to supplements and vitamins, which are largely unregulated by the FDA, there was an entire shelf of homeopathic products.

There is no scientific research that proves the efficacy of homeopathic products. In fact, they're pretty much water. So the fact that many people take them in lieu of traditional medical treatments can be dangerous.

Seattle has many quirks, and an affinity for alternative medicine is, unfortunately, one of them. But Seattle has other affinities: for coffee, granola, and unusual seasonings.

In addition to countless flavors of bulk granola ...

Even more flavors of bulk coffee ...

And fresh-ground nut butters ...

There were large tanks of organic, craft-brewed obscure sauces like tamari, a Japanese sauce that's similar to soy sauce.

Finally, we moved onto the prepared foods section, which contained a variety of the expected and the very unexpected.

Like at many grocery stores, there was an extensive Mediterranean bar full of various pickled things — mostly olives.

Its olives were several grades above anything you could find at Kroger. They looked delicious but came with some odd naming and high prices.

PCC has a fresh yogurt bar, something we've never seen at any other grocery store. It looked mostly untouched.

Something about large open containers of yogurt feels less than sanitary.

The deli was full of creative, if not very appealing, hot and cold options.

You can't have an organic-focused food co-op in the Pacific Northwest without a kale salad.

Or a vegan egg salad.

Or a shelf dedicated entirely to various flavors of hummus. PCC doesn't have that many house-brand products, but it does have tons and tons of house-brand hummus.

There isn't much seating in the fresh food area. It's definitely more of a to-go layout.

And with that, we decided it was time to go.

On the way out, we peeked at the soap aisle, which had very expensive, Eastern-religion-themed soaps.

But it was clear that at PCC, clean eating had a high price. Despite the intriguing and high-quality products, the prices made us sure that we'd probably never make PCC our go-to grocery store.

Community-owned may be a selling point for some, but most Americans value, well, value. Those with enough money are welcome to opt-out of shopping at cheaper, corporate-owned grocery stores.

On the other coast, we also stopped by a recently-opened Wegmans store in Brooklyn, New York.

We noticed from the get-go that the interior of the store was pretty large and spacious.

We also immediately picked up on the theme of the store, which was made to feel like an open-air European market.

This was accomplished through the warm lighting, dark wood display bins, and charming wicker baskets scattered throughout the store.

And many walls were designed to look like the facade of a building in a market, complete with window lighting and canopies.

In the produce section, there were a lot of fresh-looking fruit and vegetables.

Plus, there was a hefty supply of organic options, which were marked by these green signs.

There was also a large selection of freshly cut fruit.

Overall, the prices seemed standard and sometimes even somewhat low. The classic Wegmans $0.49-a-pound bananas seemed like a great deal.

The aisles of packaged food were super wide and almost reminiscent of a wholesale warehouse like Costco.

While we found a lot of name-brand items, we were surprised at how many products bore the Wegmans name.

And the prices on these items were pretty great. These Wegmans-brand pita chips were going for $2.79.

And we picked up a bottle of Wegmans sparkling water for just $0.79.

Like PCC, Wegmans had some food dispensers in the aisle for customers to fill their own bags of different sweets.

We also found a place to test some Wegmans kombucha.

When it came to cheese, it seemed like Wegmans had every type imaginable.

Plus, a lot of the cheese was set up in gorgeous displays throughout the store.

We could even watch Parmigiano-Reggiano get sliced right before our eyes.

In the seafood section, we found a tank for live lobsters.

But the most impressive section at Wegmans was by far the hot-food and takeout area.

There were sections for all types of cuisine, including Mediterranean and Asian styles.

There were also separate counters to order pizza and burgers ...

... as well as a large number of ready-made sushi options. We also had the option to order our own custom sushi rolls.

The nearby bakery section featured a mouth-watering display of cakes and pastries.

And a coffee station at the front of the store made for a nice accompaniment to a sweet snack from the bakery.

Upstairs, there was a comfy sitting area for people to eat their meals away from the store floor. There was also a bar up there, which was open during certain hours.

When it came time to check out, we were delighted to find that our order total was rather low, given that a lot of the items in the store were not overly expensive.

Overall, Wegmans was more than a grocery store. It felt like a cafeteria, bakery, pizza shop, bar, and museum all rolled into one delightful retail experience.

From store design and in-store features to selection and prices, it was clear that Wegmans is dominating the regional grocer game.

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