Wegmans has begun hiring staff for its long-awaited New York City store. The Rochester-based supermarket chain is hiring 500 people for the store that will open at the Brooklyn Navy Yard sometime this fall.

This store encompasses 74,000 square feet, a lot smaller than the larger Wegmans markets, like the one in Pittsford.

But Wegmans spokeswoman Valerie Fox says the Brooklyn store is similar to the smaller footprint it uses in more urban locations.

“It’s a little bit closer to our East Avenue store in Rochester and we’ve learned a lot from opening a few smaller stores both at East Avenue, and another one in Chestnut Hill Massachusetts, so we’ve learned how we can really offer the same customer service and the same shopping experience within a little bit of a smaller footprint,” Fox told WXXI News.

The Brooklyn store will include a second-floor mezzanine with nearly 100 seats for the in-store market cafe. That mezzanine space also has a bar, serving food, wine, beer and spirits.

Fox says the Brooklyn store is already getting a lot of interest on social media and elsewhere, and it’s the kind of phenomenon the supermarket chain sees on a regular basis when people hope that a Wegmans will be coming to their hometown.

“Some people who have shopped with us, maybe they’re former Rochesterians or they may have shopped with us at our stores in northern Jersey, so some people are familiar with Wegmans and we’ll be new to a lot of different customers so that will be really exciting for us as well.”

Wegmans is also opening up a store in Virginia Beach at the end of April, and a store in Raleigh, North Carolina later this year.

Wegmans now has 98 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts. With the additional openings this year it will top 100 locations.