Kimberton Whole Foods opens in Collegeville

Kimberton Whole Foods opened in Collegeville, PA last month in the midst of a nor'easter. The official grand opening, however, enjoyed better weather over the following weekend.

The store represents the chain's largest of six stores, all in the Pennsylvania suburbs. It features "a cafe with freshly-made juices, smoothies and sandwiches, specialty coffees, a hot bar and salad bar, freshly-made sushi, a large selection of in-house and locally-baked goods, gourmet cheeses, organic produce, and an expansive apothecary with supplements and natural body care."

Kimberton Whole Foods to open in Collegeville

Kimberton Whole Foods, the independent natural grocer with five suburban Pennsylvania locations, announced last week that it would open next Fall in a portion of the former Acme space in Brixmor's Collegeville Shopping Center. At 12,800 square feet, the store will be the chain's largest to date.

Kimberton Whole Foods provides customers with natural, organic and non-GMO groceries, prepared foods and supplements. According to Company President Terry Brett, the new store will include "an extensive bulk foods department, expanded food service offerings, and ample indoor and outdoor seating."

Wegmans updates pubs, lets servers accept tips

Wegmans announced last month that it had reopened two of its restaurants - in Collegeville and Malvern, PA - with "refreshed decor and an updated menu." The restaurants, each known as The Pub at Wegmans, will also now let servers accept tips. Overall, Wegmans operates five pubs and tips had been allowed at the others, which include King of Prussia and Montgomeryville.

Not sure this is really news, and if you read this, that's about 30 seconds that you won't get back. Other blog posts are a bit more informative, I promise.

Whole Foods closing in on $1,000 in sales per square foot

Whole Foods announced earlier this month that its stores generated an average of $983 in annual sales per square foot (PSF) in 2013. According to statistics published by the Food Marketing Institute, the average sales PSF for supermarkets in the United States is $360 (based on a median total store size of 46,000 and median weekly sales per supermarket of $318,170).

In the Greater Philadelphia Market, the high-volume Giant Food and ShopRite stores are most likely generating north of $500 PSF, and perhaps even close to $800 PSF in some cases (a 55,000 SF store with $44 million in annual sales, for example).

For those immediately wondering about Wegmans, they certainly have incredible sales numbers, but with stores so large (132,000 SF in Collegeville), reaching Whole Foods-like PSF totals is nearly impossible. My guess for a store like Collegeville is about $600 PSF ($80 million in sales).

Zagat looking for feedback on The Pub at Wegmans

Last week Zagat, the self-proclaimed world leader in providing survey-based information for restaurants, blogged about The Pub at Wegmans, which is now open in Malvern, King of Prussia and Collegeville, PA. The brief blog post described some of the pub's selections, including crabcake sandwiches and Australian lamb chops, and asked for customer comments.

I didn't provide a comment on the blog, but it's obvious to me that Wegmans is on to something with their pub concept. Why else would an increasing number of reasonable adults choose to spend their Friday or Saturday evening eating, drinking and lounging in a supermarket?