Chase-Pitkin

Chase-Pitkin, which was a companion store to Wegmans, was a local chain of hardware stores. It maintained a "neighborhood" feel despite being associated with such a large chain.

Due to an inability to compete with chains such as Home Depot and Lowe's, they were forced to shut down, closing all 14 of their stores.

The company's roots began with the Chase Brothers Nursery, which was founded in 1857 by brothers Ethan, Lewis, and Martin Chase. William Pitkin, who married Lewis Chase's daughter, joined the Chase brothers in their company. Pitkin served as mayor of Rochester from 1845 to 1846, and was a descendant (by another marriage) of Nathaniel Rochester.¹,²

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2017-01-27 10:40:00   Actually, the Chase-Pitkin that the Wegman family took over in the 1970s was a custom millwork lumber yard that had made & provided thousands of doors, windows and other architectural millwork in the Rochester area. Chase-Pitkin also had in house capacity to manufacture millwork.

Wegman negotiated for a couple years to buy Chase-Pitkin, and when negotiations broke down, Wegmans opened their first home repair store in the then former grocery store on Spencerport Rd and Howard Rd. By then Chase Pitkin had suffered economic downturn, and Wegmans bought on Wegman's terms about a year after opening Wegmans Home Repair Center, and rebranded the stores.

Since Wegmans was on a program of doubling footprint of all their grocery stores, new Chase Pitkin stores opened as empty grocery stores became available. The Ridgemont store was the exception, it opened in the store formerly occupied by Woolworths. —WaltSuiter