Wegmans' new addition, including a new Market Café entrance opened March 21.

The 81-store supermarket chain has stores in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts.

A new café seating area with more than 200 seats, all on the main floor also opened.

"Our customers and our employees have been very patient for the last several months as we worked both inside and outside the building to transform this store into something really special," Store Manager Mike Kier said.

Kier was asked what customers and employees will say when they see the new space.

It was well worth the wait," he replied.

According to Kier, the 15,000-square-foot addition added a 66-seat dining room called the Timber Room.

The new café space also includes a catering department and an expanded area to hold 1,500 varieties of beer, the largest selection in the Lehigh Valley. The new seating area replaces the store's mezzanine café seating for 165 diners.

That space will be renovated and will be available in the future to reserve for private parties or business meetings.

And as soon as the weather permits, an outdoor venue, replete with a fireplace and pergola with seating for 40 will be available.

A full service pub, a 130-seat, full-service restaurant and bar will open later this spring or early summer, Kier said.

Once all are opened, the combined indoor, outdoor, and Pub seating will total nearly 400, more than doubling the number of seats currently available.

By October, virtually every area and department in the store will have been upgraded and remodeled, including the parking lot, the addition of checkout registers and remodeled restrooms.

The expansion also means the addition of 50 jobs (part-time and full-time) at the Tilghman Street store, which employs more than 700 today, and brings the size of the store to 123,000 square feet.