Wegmaniac (Wegmans + maniac)
Wegmans Food Markets have lots of fans, called “Wegmaniacs” (Wegmans + maniac). The term is most frequently used at the opening of new Wegmans stores, although the company has stated that it hasn’t officially promoted the term.
“Some devotees, she (Jo Natale, a Wegmans spokesperson—ed.) said, travel from opening to opening. Earlier this year a couple turned out for a store opening in Virginia with homemade T-shirts proudly proclaiming themselves ‘Wegmaniacs’” was printed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News (Washington, DC) on October 12, 2009.
Wikipedia: Wegmans
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a privately held American supermarket chain; it is headquartered in Rochester, New York. As of September 2019, Wegmans has 100 stores in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions. The company has stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia and North Carolina, with planned expansions into Delaware. Notably, Wegmans is poised to open its first store in New York City on October 27th, 2019. Founded in 1916 in Rochester, Wegmans has appeared on Fortune‘s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list since the list first appeared in 1998. In 2018, the company was ranked No. 2 on the list of best companies to work for, behind Salesforce.com.
12 October 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Business News (Washington, DC), “Collegeville Wegmans opening just grand” by Martha Woodall:
“Openings are a big deal for us,” said Jo Natale, a spokeswoman for the company based in Rochester, N.Y., that operates 74 stores from New York to Virginia.
Some devotees, she said, travel from opening to opening. Earlier this year a couple turned out for a store opening in Virginia with homemade T-shirts proudly proclaiming themselves “Wegmaniacs.”
“It’s not a term we use,” Natale said and laughed.
Twitter
Sunny
@SunnyinSyracuse
@beneg92 Haha, sorry! I am watching @wegmans social media team speak in #rotoloclass. Yes I’m a #Wegmaniac 😊
11:31 AM · Mar 31, 2011·Twitter for iPhone
Twitter
Sunny
@SunnyinSyracuse
.@Wegmans just used the term #Wegmaniacs…I am so one of them!
11:15 AM · Mar 31, 2011·Twitter for iPhone
Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, NY)
Wait. What? Where did the term ‘Wegmaniac’ come from?
Marcia Greenwood, Rochester Democrat and ChroniclePublished 11:27 a.m. ET April 11, 2019 | Updated 8:00 a.m. ET April 12, 2019
(...)
We turned to the expert: Jo Natale, Wegmans’ vice president of media relations.
“It’s not a term we created,” she said via email, “but I can tell you how it came about. As you may know, at our new store openings, there is often a line of customers waiting for the doors to open. Several years ago, at one of our store openings in a new market (sorry; I don’t recall which state), there was a small group of customers, all wearing T-shirts they had made with ‘Wegmaniac’ across the front. Somehow the term caught on …” Not here, but in other places.
Natale added that because “Wegmaniac” has its roots in store openings, “we have used it a few times in our own social media posts for a store opening.”
WHEC (Rochester, NY)
Wegmans responds to uproar over term ‘Wegmaniac’
April 11, 2019 11:48 PM
NEW YORK (WHEC) - Wegmans is responding to an uproar on social media over the term ‘Wegmaniac.’
Bloomberg used the term in an article published this week.
Rochestarians have since shut down the term but Wegmans says it has history.
In a tweet Thursday, the food markets said the term is real but it wasn’t created by the company.
New York (NY) Post
‘Wegmaniacs’ are ready to pounce on new Brooklyn Wegmans
By Zachary KussinOctober 22, 2019 | 6:34pm | Updated
(...)
Some Wegmaniacs have their eye on openings beyond the Brooklyn store.
Twitter
Seth Slade
@Woodside11377
Opening Day for @Wegmans Brooklyn! #wegmansbrooklyn #wegmaniacs
12:04 PM · Oct 27, 2019·Twitter for iPhone