Hundreds Flood Wegmans For Grand Opening

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Hundreds of people flooded the new Wegmans store in Montvale for its grand opening Sunday.

People lined up outside before dawn to be the first to enter.

"It's nice to have a brand new store that has food bars and a place where you can sit down and eat. Everybody I talked to was like 'Yay, they are coming,'" said Patty Nazzaro, a Saddle River resident who was the first on line. "Competition is good. The place looks gorgeous."

The store has committed to buying locally-grown organic produce and other New Jersey-made products.

Manager Paul Jordan and members of his team greeted customers as they entered the store at 7 a.m. Before the opening, Jordan thanked the team.

Customers were excited about the store.

"They're finally here," said Sandy Kessler. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. They have a great selection and the prices are reasonable."

Other customers agreed.

"It's a bit of a drive, but that's okay," said Rich Ortiz. "It's nice to have a new place to go and they have a very good reputation from what I understand.

The 108,000-square-foot store is located at 100 Farms View on the former DePiero's Farm site. Here are all the details:

The Burger Bar: The store's signature restaurant, featuring made-to-order burgers, sandwiches, soups, sides and kids' meals.

Market Cafe: This area features a pizza shop where customers can make their own pizza and a chicken wing bar, soup station, organic salad bar, sushi bar with vegetable, cook and raw made-to-order items; vegetarian bar, Asian bar featuring Chinese, Thai and Indian food and lots of ready-to-go entrees in single or family-size portions.

Nature's Marketplace: This section features a smoothie bar and a a selection of products for people with sensitive allergies. There is also gluten-free products, plant-based and fermented foods.

Produce: The store works with local growers to feature hundreds of kinds of fruits and vegetables, including some from New Jersey and Pennsylvania farms. The store also sells a wide variety of its own name brand organic products.

Seafood: Items here are delivered daily and customers can have fresh shellfish bought at the store steamed for free, including lobster, shrimp, mussels, clams and crabs. There is also oysters, clams and blue crab meat.

Cheese shop: This section features a temperature- and humidity-controlled misting case and cheeses aged in caves.

Bakery: It has artisan breads, rolls and organic products. Bagels, pastries, cakes, cupcakes, cookies and muffins are made fresh.

There is also a 14,000-square-foot beer, wine and spirits section with a fine wine area and a tasting room. There is also a wide variety of local craft beers and customers can create their own six pack of beer.

The store also has a pharmacy, floral shop and trail mix bar and sells bulk food like candy, nuts, dried fruit.

RELATED: Take A Look Inside Bergen County Wegmans

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Photos of the inside of the new Wegman's in Montvale opening Sunday./By Daniel Hubbard, Patch staff