Wegmans Showing Plans for Amherst Street Outbuilding

Tonight while shopping at Wegmans, I just happened to ask the cashier if she had heard anything about wine sales ever coming to Wegmans. We proceeded to discuss it but she knew nothing. Now I see this. I hope it happens.

I was describing to her that for many years now in California, you can turn the corner in the store and it is a complete liquor aisle. But not in stupid NY. Stupid regulations.

Well, I personally disagree here and support small businesses. I'd rather have the small neighborhood business than a big retail outfit out of another city.

My God! It really is not that hard. How does anyone look at those drawings and conclude that they are a good idea?

"Hoping that a high end liquor store becomes a tenant".......and when it doesn't it will be filled in by a tanning salon, dollar store,Cricket store...or something else of that ilk....I don't like it, bad idea

I must be missing something as to why this is such a horrible design. Sure, it doesn't have mixed use but it's built to the curb, replaces useless greenspace, and appears to have massing close to a two-story building.

Don't worry, Gates Circle...you're right on my way home after I pick up groceries at Wegmans. You still got my business!

If they modify it to put a second main entrance on Amherst St. then I am good with it. A building built up to the sidewalk with stores in it is much better than the grassy berm there now.

Would love to seem them build it tall enough to eventually house a second floor after remodeling sometime down the line, but overall, I'm happy to have a commercial building built roadside.

Just put the entrance at the corner so it can serve both the lot and the street.

The designer should check his scale...the site plan doesn't depict the actual dimensions of the site. It shows the 'green space' as almost square when it's very long and narrow (see aerial). The elevations are correct- it will be a narrow building (upper left elevation faces east towards the new parking area, upper right is the Amherst Street elevation).

would be nice to see how this whole strip along Amherst fronting Wegman's could be built out in the future and how this building fits that vision.

This appears to preclude what could be a good model for this and other sites - retail/ mixed use fronting streets and parking lot behind associated with large retailer such as Wegman's behind.

Large grocery stores sell beer and lots of varieties, and yet many people still buy beer at smaller convenience stores. So why is it a problem in NY State to allow wine and spirits in the grocery store? To save the small liquor store? Most supermarkets are already established throughout WNY, and they are not rushing to build more. So if a small liquor store wants to open for business, plan your location accordingly. Competing means adapting, and this also includes where you are located.

I support small businesses as well, but if I can buy the product for a lot less and in larger varieties I think it is my right to do so. Wegmans is cheaper than Tops on most everything but the drive to Wegmans is a lot further than my drive to Tops so sometimes if I need a few items I'll pay a little more by stopping at Tops to save time and gas. Buying spirits would be no different. Not allowing liquor and wine in supermarkets is subsidizing the liquor store industry. In NY, probably a lot of other things we are not even aware of.

No more buildings that put their side walls right up against the sidewalk). The front door needs to face the sidewalk.

I agree with nyc - we should encourage in-fill along the main streets in front of big retail centers like this one or along Delaware or Elmwood. Have traditional mixed use buildings facing the street, a driveway that gives access to the big parking lot in the rear, and then way in the back you can have Wegmans, Target, etc.

i love how the same people comment on here and every one in buffalo thinks that they are an archictect. shut up !! delete!

This site plan looks horrible. It should help boost Amherst street "main st" walkability by putting all parking in the back and Main entrance towards the street. This building doesn't really even need it's own parking lot if they could use Wegman's giant lot behind it. But then that would wipe away the veneer of it being a separate business...

if the site plan looks so bad, can you PLEASE draw up and post what you think it should be. i will be waiting for your article to come out with renderings. most likely i will be waiting forever for this. this includes anyone on here that does nothing but bash. shut up or put up a complete submission

keep the volume the same but cut out half the depth and make it double the length. Put a front door on amherst street and a rear door in the parking lot that will now be fully behind the building.

costs the same, more urban, looks better (hidden parking), adds more density to amherst st.

everybody wins.

can you read, i asked can u draw up the plan mr dense, lol

So this new building will be slightly prettier equivalent of the Valu store where the side of the building fronts Hertel?

If the entrance doesn't front Amherst Street, won't this be a dead space for pedestrians?

All Gates Circle needs to do is keep their prices competitve with whatever store goes into this new build. Simple. If they can't, then they shouldn't have an expectation of staying in business. Who in their right mind is going to actually choose to pay more for anything, especially something like alcohol which is pretty much a luxury purchase?

Everything Wegmans does, they do well. I expect nothing less with this venture and continue to be thankful for a store within city limits.

Let's get one thing correct, Wegman's will not have an existing liquor store in the new building. They will have thier own people running the store under what "Danny Wegman" says. Yes, they have done the same thing in other cities in NY State. For those who beleive in this, how many family owned bakery's do you see? Once the Big Supermarkets came around they were forced to close their family businesses because the Big Supermarket prices. All of the liquor stores in this state are ALL family owned. The law states that One Name per Liquor License. I hope that if this does happen that the Small Business People survive. And it will depend on YOU the consumer to prevent this from happening. So be wise and really think this through. Many people/stores will close. People you and your families have know for many years.

Would this site plan be allowed under the proposed Green Code?

This is great, but Wegmans on Amherst ALSO needs to focus on expanding the grocery store itself, staffing it properly, and keeping it as clean as any of it suburban locations. Sadly, the Amherst Street Wegmans is overcrowded, understaffed, and downright unsightly due to its sheer volume.

More about this on @TheBuffaloNews website tonight -- meaning it will likely be in the paper tomorrow:
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130124/CITYANDREGION/130129564

Good for the neighbors!

"Since they can't legally operate the store themselves, they are leasing it out to another operator. Who's to say that won't be another local store re-locating or starting up?" WRONG...Wegmans is in the Wine and Liquor business with stores in Rochester and Syracuse as well as in NJ, Maryland and Virginia and they will operate this one as well. They might open in another family members name or they might buy another store, say Great Arrow Liquor for example, hire the owner for a short time to work there, but it WILL be a Wegmans Wine store.

2 years ago Wegman bankrolled an ill conceived "wine in grocery" bill that would have closed most locally owned wine shops and local wineries. Now he wants to own a liquor store in Black Rock? He is quite a piece of work. Lets keep the wine stores owned locally and run by neighborhood people.