People are really excited at the idea of a new supermarket coming to Brooklyn in 2017. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Wegmans, a family run chain with stores around the Northeast, will have its first store in NYC: a 74,000-square-foot building (their smallest location!) inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But first, the city needs to get rid off those pesky Civil War buildings that make up Admiral’s Row. According to the Times article, “the Navy Yard’s board approved a deal for the redevelopment of the site on Tuesday. Several buildings will be knocked down and replaced with Wegmans, other stores, industrial space and parking.”
This isn’t the first time the Civil War era buildings demise has been foretold. If this new deal manages to stick, it will suck that such historical buildings will be torn down for yet another corporation to set ground in Brooklyn, however the people who will benefit the most from this new supermarket being built are the ones who live in the housing project nearby. With a new place to buy groceries and a place that will have somewhere between 200 to 600 jobs it seems like a no lose situation for the residents in northwest Brooklyn. If for some reason you’ve never been around the Navy Yard before, we can tell you from experience that it’s a ghost town when it comes to grocery options (although there’s some fun stuff to do there). And at least it’s better than more condos.
Everyone does seem excited for this new super large supermarket though. People the Times talked to dropped their jaws, people on Twitter are making hashtags and some of people at Brokelyn HQ are admitted “Wegmans cultists” who descirbed it as a kind of cheaper Whole Foods. Team Brokelyn/Wegmans also mentioned they love it due to the fact that they have “all the spices, all the hand soaps, all the different types of couscous,” not to mention “a miniature candy store INSIDE the store.”
There are some of us who have never heard about a Wegmans before yesterday. Plus, for those of us who don’t live in northwest Brooklyn, going to the Navy Yard is a journey. To just travel all that way there to get some tortilla chips that might be a little cheaper than Trader Joe’s? Some of us will stick with C-Town, however, a miniature candy store and the idea of just buying pre-made food and beer might be a good date night for the cheap romantic in all of us.