Woodmore Towne Centre welcomes Wegmans
As employees continued to stock Wegmans' aisles with cans and boxes Oct. 14, store manager Ayana Douglas dreamed about stocking the store with customers.
Douglas is the face of the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer, which will be the anchor of the 245-acre Woodmore Towne Centre at Glenarden, a mixed-use retail and residential project that will continue to open stores from now until summer 2011.
"I just want people to come," Douglas said. "I just want to be able to introduce them to this wonderful store with these great people."
The 130,000-plus square-foot Woodmore Wegmans is only the second to open in Maryland and the 77th Wegmans grocery store in the nation. The first Maryland Wegmans opened in Hunt Valley in 2005. Wegmans is expected to bring in $100 million in annual sales but Ross did not have a break down for how this would directly affect the county's tax base.
Douglas said she wanted to dispel myths that Wegmans is too upscale and that its prices would soar above competitors such as the Giant Food store that is two and a half miles away. Douglas said Wegmans often forces the competition to offer better deals for their customers.
"If us coming to an area is going to make a competitor do better, that's the best choice for our customers," Douglas said.
There are also plans for 1 million square feet of office space and 1,098 residences to include townhouses, single-family homes and condominiums north of the retail center and closer to Glenarden Parkway, Ross said. Home builder K. Hovnanian Homes is partnering with Petrie-Ross to provide 990 units, but any future residential construction depends on the real estate market climate, she added.
Ross said plans were set in motion back in 2005 for the Woodmore Towne Centre development, and construction began in June 2008. The area was ideal for development because of its proximity to I-95, I-495 and Route 202, Ross said.
"There wasn't anything of this scale in Prince George's County," Ross said. "In Prince George's County you have National Harbor, but it's a completely different shopping center. Because of the hotels, you have a lot more tourists coming in. We think that Woodmore really caters to the community."
Harrison said she loves to shop in grocery stores and that the Wegmans will enhance the grocery shopping experience with a wide selection in departments such as seafood, recipes and cooking demonstrations.
"I don't think that they would be pricing anyone out of the market, and I don't think they would be overly expensive," Harrison said. "Their retail items, at least for grocery items, are probably very compatible with our grocery stores."
Glenarden City Council President Margaret Dade (Ward 2) said she is not only excited about the new jobs the center will bring but also for the more-than-2,500-square-foot combined Glenarden city police substation and community room in the shopping center.
Glenarden Police Chief Philip O'Donnell said the substation could open as early as January. He said it will mostly be for officers to fill out paperwork but said there will always be one Glenarden police officer and one county police officer at the center while stores are open, and the substation will be next door to a shopping center security office. There are currently 10 Glenarden city police officers, he said.
Dade said the city still needs to create a set of guidelines on when and how residents can use the community room and hopes to create them before the year ends. She said the city of Glenarden has healthy working relationships with Petrie-Ross and K. Hovnanian Homes and believes the shopping center will be a catalyst for more county development.
"Because Wegmans is an attractive business, and with Costco, JCPenney and Best Buy also being in that area, it would help to attract additional businesses to the area once they see the possibilities for developing in Prince George's County," Dade said.
Springdale resident Carlyle Smith said he is excited to see retail that will impact the Largo, Upper Marlboro and Landover areas. He said that he hopes that stores will not go out of business like at the Boulevard at the Capital Centre, where Circuit City closed in March 2009, and Sideline Bar and Grill in Largo, which closed that December. The Circuit City space was filled with retailer hhgregg in September.
"[Wegmans] will be great for people who are into gourmet cooking," Smith said. "Costco is definitely a plus. I think the last really big box store we had was Sam's Club [in Landover Crossing that closed in 1995] by Landover Mall. I think it would be great for the area, actually."
As a Springdale resident for seven years, Smith has seen the traffic increase on St. Josephs Drive and Ardwick Ardmore Road which turns into Yellowwood Avenue but he is not concerned about shopping center traffic.
"I can notice the actual pick up and flow of traffic, but there's so many ways into this new shopping complex. I don' t think it would have a direct impact in the neighborhood itself," Smith said. "It could. Only time will tell with that."
Confirmed retail at woodmore town centre
Stores will be opening from now through summer 2011.
Wegmans - Opening Oct. 24
Costco – Opening week of Oct. 25
Best Buy – Now open
JcPenney – opening spring of 2011
Petco
PNC Bank
Sleepy's Mattress
T-mobile
Noodles and Co.
Subway
Our Eyes
Woodmore Wine
Irie Café
Centre Cleaners
nmcgill@gazette.net
Copyright © Post-Newsweek Media, Inc./Gazette.Net