Wow. Did not see this coming.
According to an exclusive news report, the families behind two major Northeast grocery chains have agreed to merge their stores together under one company and one organization. The Wegman family and the Golub family, owners of the Wegmans and Price Chopper supermarkets, have agreed to put their resources together into a combined chain of grocery stores that will become the largest such chain in the Northeast.
The merger, which has been negotiated for several months, will begin to take tangible shape over the summer. “Although there have been several claims of a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between our companies,” said spokesman Connie Morgan of the Price Chopper-Wegmans merger, “the truth is we’ve actually been working behind the scenes to provide the best possible shopping experience for our customers.”
“You don’t know how many times we’ve received e-mails and calls from residents in Western New York saying, ‘We wish there was a Price Chopper in our area,'” said Morgan. “We’re answering those customers’ requests today, and we hope that all former Wegmans store shoppers will find a great shopping experience at their new Price Chopper stores.”
Customers in cities currently serviced by Wegmans will see immediate changes in their stores. Some of the Wegmans stores will be rebranded as Price Chopper outlets, while cities that have both a Wegmans and a Price Chopper will see one of those stores close for good.
There will be a new Wegmans AdvantEdge Card, a loyalty card that will provide 10 cents per gallon off Sunoco gasoline purchases for every $100 spent at the new Wegmans-Price Chopper stores. To welcome Wegmans shoppers for the month of April, those who sign up for the loyalty card this month and who spend $50 in groceries will receive 20 cents per gallon off of their gasoline. In other words, they’ll save money on their upcoming April fuel.
For more information on the Price Chopper – Wegmans merger, visit this link.
Chuck The Writer 
Haven’t yet clicked the link, but my guess is: April Fool!
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Yup.
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And have you heard about the Saks 5th Avenue/Walmart merger?
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Got me! Good one. I liked the April fuel 🙂
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Happy April Fools Day to you too Chuck!
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Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa love it!! Love love love Wegman’s
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haha love it
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A win-win! 😉
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bahahahahahahha. Like anyone who shops at Wegmans wishes their store to be like a Price Chopper!!!!!
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The biggest April fool in this is Chuck Miller who would create a stir with the unknowing public and leave a tiny link that very few will follow. Nice responsible journalism. Maybe you should consider a new career such as fast food or stamp licking
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Yep, had me on that one.
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You are SOOOOOO right Leslie! Wegmans is like the North Star.
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#10 dave w is our Official April Fool…if he didn’t get the joke after reading “April fuel.” Repeat to yourself: a blog is not hard news. A blog is not hard news.
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Lighten up #10. nice job, chuck, especially on the gas savings clue.
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Wow Dave (#10), the White House did a practical joke today, want to impeach Obama for irresponsible presidency? Google has one too; maybe we should just shut down the irresponsible internet machine. How about you untwist those underwear you’re wearing, seems like they are a bit tight bud. And good job Chuck, you had me for a second.
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Bit of advice Dave. They day we conflate a quirky blog post with serious journalism, is the day we all lose.
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Too funny… When I saw the headline I thought..finally a Wegmans in our area!! Then when it said that folks wanted Price Choppers out where Wegmans are…I was shocked. Now, if we can just work on getting a Wegmans here 🙂
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You can bet that Price Chopper didn’t think this was funny!
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Gee Dave, must suck to get fooled again on April 1, huh?
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Looks like Dae W just got realllyyy embarrassed at teh water cooler with his ‘Scoop”!
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Now I know why I stopped subscribing to the TU for my business news and now rely on the Business Journal for local RESPONSIBLE, HONEST business news! Not very amusing Mr. Miller!
As one of a few thousand people who works on the Trader Joe’s campaign, and finally succeded, are you kidding me?
I worked for a company based in Rochester for several years and loved Wegmans. I don’t know who is the holdout, the Golub or Wegmans families in this deal. In either case, there are several of use who drive the 120 to 150 miles each way to shop at Wegmans every 6 months. We used to go every 3 months but at almost $4 per gallon the frequency of the trips has decreased.
As we have said in the past, Wegmans what is the problem with you not supporting the residents of YOUR state capitol and Price Chopper, are you that afraid of the competition? Not holding my breath on this one…
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I can’t tell whether or not MB Rogers is being sarcastic. If not, then not only did he miss the multitude of comments that immediately outed this as a joke, but he also missed the edited subject line that said it was a joke. (Admittedly, I don’t know when Chuck edited that in. It could have been done afterward.)
Also, a pet peeve, if I may. I simply don’t understand what goes through the minds of people who can’t separate the concept of the TU blogs (especially the citizen-penned blogs, of which this is one) from the newspaper itself. Just because your browser says “timesunion.com” doesn’t necessarily mean there’s hard news to be had.
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Tim – I did add the (APRIL FOOL’S DAY) on April 2, so people would know it was an April Fool’s Day joke from yesterday.
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No, it was about as sarcastic as this article was not funny. Take a poll of the people in the Capital District who who don’t understand why Wegmans is in several other parts of the state, as well as other states, but chooses not to come here.
As far as the comment about the “blog” is concerned, it is under the TU banner and that is the correlation. As far as blogs are concerned don’t hold much stock in them but it came up as an alert when Wegmans was mentioned.
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MB Rogers: Maybe you didn’t look closely at the type of blg this is under lifetyle, so frankly, you need to be observent. Criticizing Chuck for posting a very good April Fool’s joke on a lifestyle blog is like criticizing Family Circle for discussing parenting issues in the comics.
Frankly MB Rogers, the more you say this wasn’t funny, the funnier I find this April Fool’s joke.
Next time I find a pair of panties in a twist MB, I’ll think of you….
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I used to buy the Sunday Times Union, but promptly cancelled my subscription when I found out that there were in fact no snarky, orange, overweight talking cats as depicted.
Quite frankly, I find that entire insert in the Sunday paper, colorful as it may be, to be criminally irresponsible journalism. You’ll miss my $1.25 TU.
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I would love to put a whoopie cushion on MB Rogers’ chair.
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Great. Maybe the prices will now be chopped.
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