Being from Long Island, we have bagels and pizza and Ralph's Italian Ices. Moving above the city lines to a college four hours away, some things were clearly going to be different. Some things were going to need a little explaining.
Like what a Wegmans was.
Hearing about it around campus, I would just nod politely not wanting to bring up the classic 'I'm from the Island, we don't have Wegmans', because well... We don't. We have Costco and King Kullen and Stop and Shop, but 'Wegmans' was never in my vocabulary until I became best friends with people who constantly bragged about Wegmans.
I never stepped into a Wegmans until a couple of weeks ago when I had to figure out what the hype was about. So, on a Friday afternoon, I went to the Wegmans in Ithaca with my best friends Leah and Hannah, and got ready to figure out why a grocery store would be amazing.
Well, let me tell you...Wegmans is not your average grocery store. I literally walked around like a lost puppy because Wegman's is bigger than every BJs, Costco, and Fairway Market that I've ever been to. I casually walked around trying to take everything in, with people who clearly knew what they were doing. I guess I was intimidated by a big store with a whole bunch of food.
What was I kidding, I was in heaven and I was OK with being around a grocery store that had so many things. I was a kid in the candy store, actually the candy section of Wegmans in awe of the wall to wall candy creations, many that don't even exist at home like Sponge Candy. My friend, Leah, had to pull me away from marveling at the trains that were circling around the aisles and weaving in and out at the bread section, the bakery section just to help us find Hannah, my other friend who actually needed shop for groceries.
Helping out Hannah and essentially getting lost in all of the grocery section of Wegmans, we checked out and then ate lunch at Wegmans. Not a lot of grocery stores at home have a food court incorporated in its facilities with an upper seating area. Wegmans all over the central, upstate area of New York have dining areas. So, you shop only to stay longer to eat whatever food you want for lunch. There's subs, pizza, a buffet section to just fill up containers with as much as you can.
I filled up my container to the brim and prepared to be a bit skeptical about a grocery store having a dining area for its customers. I shouldn't have been because the food was really good, and I started to understand why people liked going there. It's a wonderful store that everyone is friendly at, and many people go there to not only shop, but interact with other people too.
Just seeing smiles on people's faces, especially a little girl who literally could not contain her excitement that she could eat Mac-n-Cheese from Wegmans made me a bit happier that I can start to appreciate things from other parts of the state.
