25 W. Germantown Pike
Welcome to the East Norriton Weis!
Weis is officially making its debut here on The Retail Connection! We were near one when we toured the Millsboro Harris Teeter back in August, but this will be our first time stepping inside. This store opened on June 16, 2012, in a former Genuardi's. This store has pretty much the reverse layout of the Springfield store (now GIANT), with produce on the left and deli/bakery on the right. Let's begin our tour!
We're entering through the large tower on the left. The right entrance goes into beer and wine.
Floral and an expansive produce department line the left wall of the store. This store has Weis's current decor package, which before seeing in person I considered to be one of the ugliest decor packages of all time. While I still don't exactly love it, experiencing it for myself made me appreciate it a little more. It also does look better in these stores with high, exposed ceilings than older and smaller ones like Pennsburg.
Pharmacy is in an island on one side of aisle 2. I do really like the retro design here.
Meat and seafood are in the back left corner of the store past produce. One thing about this decor is that pretty much every element is different from everything else.`
Greeting cards are in aisle 3.
Dairy is in aisle 15 and frozen is in the back right corner of the store. Here's how this area would have looked as Genuardi's. I can't exactly tell if the coffin coolers are the same as the ones Genuardi's would've had, but either way, it's interesting that Weis kept them.
Bakery is on the right side of the store behind the dairy aisle. Donuts were a big part of the Genuardi's bakery, so it's nice to see Weis promoting their own, but I've had a Weis donut before and it was pretty average.
The plain market deli is located across from the bakery. The backsplash behind the counter here is left over from Safeway's Lifestyle v2 decor from Genuardi's.
A little shaky in the kitchen area. This area is still a big gripe of mine. There's way too much going on with the decor.
The seating area for prepared foods and beer and wine are in the front corner on the east side of the store. I believe this whole area would have been food bars and seating when the store was Genuardi's.
Customer service (or Customer Solutions) is past beer and wine, as is the Weis Change Exchange kiosk, their version of Coinstar. Interesting to see a supermarket have their own take on something like that, kind of like the Presto! ATMs at Publix.
The thank you sign was installed when the store first opened back in 2012, and is from the Fresh Market decor which preceded this one. Weis kept the Lifestyle decor from Genuardi's when they opened.
Other Images of Interest
Street View Images
2013
This store started out open 24 hours, but it now operates from 7AM to 10PM. You can see the store as a Genuardi's by clicking here.
Nearby competition
0.6 miles away: Acme of East Norriton
This is the newest Acme, having opened last month on October 20. It's a former ShopRite, although it's quite a full-circle moment for Acme as they operated a store on this property in the 50's! We toured this store last week, and you can see it for yourself here.
1.2 miles away: GIANT of Blue Bell
The Blue Bell GIANT opened in 1995 and is our next stop on the Norristown-area tour.
2.5 miles away: McCaffrey's of Blue Bell
This store has a pretty interesting history dating back to 1970 when it was built as a mall! It later became a Clemens and then a SuperFresh, but closed during A&P's bankruptcy in 2015. McCaffrey's opened a beautiful new store here in 2016.
That's going to do it for the East Norriton Weis! It seemed like a really nice store to me, and I think I would shop here if I lived in the area. Genuardi's was always one of my favorite supermarkets, and I'm glad their buildings are living on as other grocers. Have a great weekend, and see you next week! Eat better, spend less, that's The Retail Connection!
