Town wants Wegmans cake and its Chablis, too
Town Meeting's support for the first carry-out alcohol license in Westwood makes it more likely that Wegmans food stores will commit to the Westwood Station development, a company spokeswoman said.
"The outcome of the vote was really a high priority for moving forward," said Jo Natale, director of media relations for Wegmans. "This was a major step in the right direction for Wegmans to open a store in Westwood Station. It has all the elements we look for in a site."
Natale said the company has also considered other area sites as it tries to make its first move into the New England market, and she wouldn't discuss those negotiations. But she called Westwood a natural location for the company's expansion, because of its growing density and access to transportation routes.
"It has all the things we were looking for," she said. "We're very motivated to make this happen."
Selectmen have wooed Wegmans, a New York-based chain with 71 stores, to lease some 140,000 square feet of space in Westwood Station. The high-end grocery would co-anchor the 4.5-million-square-foot development, along with Target.
Up until Monday, negotiations hinged on the alcohol license, which Wegmans said was critical to its plans. As Wegmans expands, it is attempting to keep its super-store design, which includes the ability to sell beer and wine.
In the past, Westwood has rejected requests for licenses for off-premise alcohol consumption, and only five years ago agreed to allow the sale at restaurant bars. But town officials, eager to promote economic development, urged voters to approve the kind of off-premise license that Wegman wants.
That outcome wasn't an easy one to achieve. In a debate that lasted more than an hour Monday, voters narrowly agreed to create the town's first alcohol license for off-premise consumption - and the vote was so close, 410 to 372, that it had to go to a hand count.
One issue that slowed momentum was a complaint by Roche Bros., a popular local grocery store, that it would be unfair to give Wegmans a competitive edge by granting it an alcohol license. Roche Bros. has operated here for close to 40 years, and residents said it would be an insult to a long-standing business to give an advantage to another.
But town officials say that, in the end, voters agreed they wanted to see Wegmans in town.
"I think we could say that folks understood Wegmans was a good entity to bring into the development," said Town Administrator Michael A. Jaillet.
Indeed, town officials said they were looking for an anchor like Wegmans when the Westwood Station concept of office and commercial space mixed with residential units was first drafted. The lead developer, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, had initially proposed a home goods-type store to anchor the project, but town officials called for something more unusual.
Along came Wegmans, which bills itself as a cross between a supermarket, restaurant, and retail store. It sells household goods along with traditional grocery fare and prepared meals. It also offers such attractions as sushi bars and tea stands.
"What we learned is Wegmans is more than a grocery store," said Nancy Hyde, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, in a pitch before Monday's vote.
Wegmans could arrive in a market that is already saturated with grocery stores.
But the New York-based Wegmans would be prime for a market that has not seen its type of operation before, an analyst said.
"You can go into a Wegmans and spend all day there between shopping and books and cooking," said Kevin Griffin, publisher of The Griffin Report of Food Marketing, a trade newspaper based in Duxbury.
"It's probably the most formidable, higher-end retail food market in the country."
Jay Doherty, president of Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, said the grocery store will serve as a one-stop shop for the residents and employees that will make up Westwood Station.
It will also fit in, he said, with the goal of making Westwood Station a home for high-tech businesses and empty-nesters.
"We think we're creating a whole new place south of Boston," he said, "and we think Wegmans puts an exclamation point on the project."
