Pond Street Wegmans Closes

The North Side’s Wegmans supermarket on Pond Street shuttered its doors for keeps on June 30 after a four-decade run, closing a monthlong media blitz from local news outlets that focused on the store’s exit from the community. While the residential demographics have certainly changed since Wegmans opened the 31,000-square-foot business (the company’s smallest store in its entire chain) in 1970, it remained a cherished neighborhood institution especially for elderly customers and those with transportation issues. The closest Wegmans for North Siders is the James Street outlet, which has undergone few renovations and still feels like a pleasingly retro-throwback to Reagan-era shopping; the deli and produce sections haven’t budged since 1980. The Pond Street Wegmans sits on the former land parcel that once held tenants of the abandoned St. Joseph’s Cemetery, with many remains of the deceased exhumed and reburied elsewhere in 1965 and 1966.