Here’s when Wegmans will open its first-ever Manhattan location

Downtown Manhattan is about to get a big dose of upstate New York.

Almost exactly two years after the Rochester-based grocery giant Wegmans announced it would debut its first-ever Manhattan location in the former Kmart on Astor Place during the second half of 2023, now comes word of its specific opening date. And, just like the company said in 2021, it’s right on target.

The two-level, 87,500-square-foot store — located in the 1907-built 770 Broadway — will open for business on Oct. 18 at 9 a.m., according to a company release.

It’s the first Wegmans location in Manhattan, but not the first within city limits.

“We know our customers can’t wait to come see what we have in store and our employees have been training, in some cases, for over a year to get ready for this day,” says store manager Matt Dailor in the release. “Wegmans is a celebration of food and people, and we can’t wait to open the doors on October 18 to our community here in the East Village.”

On Oct. 27, 2019, almost exactly four years before the opening of this Astor Place spread, Wegmans made its Big Apple debut across the East River in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which remains open.

The bulk of Wegmans locations are in New York State — spanning from Buffalo to a forthcoming store in Long Island’s Suffolk County — the first to open in that state.

The grand opening of the Astor Place behemoth comes full circle after summer 2021 saw speculation that Wegmans would move into the former Kmart, which shut abruptly in July 2021. Reddit chatter, said the space would be replaced by a “first-class regional grocer,” leading many curious minds to offer their guesses of Wegmans, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.

What customers can expect: fresh sushi, sandwiches, pizza and even Mediterranean bites from the “Mezze” section. What’s more, in the first half of 2024, visitors will also have an on-site dining room with a sushi bar, as well as a Champagne and oyster bar.

Similar to Trader Joe’s, Wegmans has long attracted a cult following — particularly among natives of Western and Central New York who grew up chowing down on its fresh, and reasonably priced, food.

The loyalty was so strong for some upstate natives that, despite living in New York City, they’d drive 330 miles home to Rochester to load up on several months worth of groceries to cart back to Manhattan. Others deliberately rented apartments or bought homes near the closest Wegmans stores — and not just for breezy shopping, but also for nostalgia.

Longtime customer favorites include the brand’s ginger-flavored sparkling water, the cave-ripened Cremeux de Bourgogne cheese, chocolate-dipped chocolate chip cookies that sandwich flavored buttercream frosting and, this being an upstate brand, its Buffalo wings.