Wegmans is open

It was quite the event.

The line started at 4:50 a.m. for the 7 a.m. opening of the new Wegmans supermarket in Woodbridge on Sunday.

By 7 a.m., 1,000 people stood in a line that wrapped around the 140,000-square-foot building all the way back to the loading dock and the parking lot was full.

By 8 a.m. cars continued to circle the parking lot looking for an open slot while others streamed in from Neabsco Mills Road.

Prince William County residents had long begged and pleaded for high-end retail. The arrival of upscale New York grocer Wegmans signaled the beginning of a change and residents

responded by coming out for the opening.

Jerry Trenkelbach of Woodbridge was standing outside the Wegmans front doors long before sunrise on Sunday. His wife Kate soon joined him.

"He wanted to be first in line," Kate Trenkelbach said. He succeeded.

Friends Evelyn Lester, Kathy Gibson, both of Woodbridge, along with Mary Greenway of Fairfax County, arrived at 5:02 a.m. and queued in behind them.

"We're here just for the fun of it," Lester said. "I used to hate grocery shopping. Wegmans is an experience. It's not just a grocery store."

The women had shopped in the other two Wegmans stores in Sterling and Fairfax County.

"It's a cooks dream to have everything in one place that you need and want," Greenway said.

Former Prince William County Supervisor Hilda Barg of Woodbridge also was on hand for the opening. She had driven back eight hours from vacationing in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to make the event.

"I wanted to show my appreciation to the Wegmans family for coming to our community and being a community partner," Barg said.

Wegmans recently donated a tractor-trailer filled with 16,839 items of non-perishable food, including canned soup, vegetables, cereal, fruit, baking mixes, crackers, condiments and pasta to the Action in Community Through Service food pantry.

"I believe this [store] will help us rehabilitate eastern Prince William County," Barg said. "It's the first step that we are coming back."

Wegmans employees gathered in a semicircle around the front entrance at 7 a.m. A pep rally atmosphere was

created as they spelled out Wegmans in a cheer with plenty of clapping and shouting before the first customers were let in.

After touring the store, Gibson said she was not disappointed. "It's fabulous and I will be back."

Wegmans is located at the Potomac Town Center off the new stretch of

Neabsco Mills Road between Optiz and Dale boulevards. Wegmans Food Markets Inc. is a 71-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.

Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010.