Ever get the feeling that you’re being watched? Well, if you shop at one popular grocery store chain, you may not be far off the mark.
A sign posted at a Wegman’s grocery store in New York has shoppers calling privacy concerns into question.
“Biometric identifier information collected at this location,” it reads. “Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. collects, retains, converts, stores or shares customers’ biometric identifier information, which may include facial recognition, eye scans and voiceprints.”
🚨 GROCERY STORES ARE NOW BIOMETRIC CHECKPOINTS
Signs inside Brooklyn and Manhattan Wegmans locations openly admit shoppers are being scanned – faces, eyes, even voiceprints – and that the data is being stored. Not deleted. Stored.
That’s a quiet reversal from what customers… pic.twitter.com/vsZx12378s
— HustleBitch (@HustleBitch_) January 6, 2026
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Wegman’s confirmed that it is collecting the data but assured shoppers and employees that their safety is the company’s “top priority.”
“Like many retailers, we use cameras to help identify individuals who pose a risk to our people, customers or operation. In a small fraction of our stores that exhibit an elevated risk, we have deployed cameras equipped with facial recognition technology,” the statement reads. “This technology is solely used for keeping our stores secure and safe. The system collects facial recognition data and only uses it to identify individuals who have been previously flagged for misconduct.”
The company wouldn’t disclose how long the facial recognition data is stored for, but maintains that it is discarded when it is no longer needed.
“For security reasons, we do not disclose the exact retention period, but it aligns with industry standards,” they stated. “Persons of interest are determined by our asset protection team based on incidents occurring on our property and on a case-by-case basis, by information from law enforcement for criminal or missing persons cases.”
“Facial recognition technology serves as one investigative lead for us. We never base our decisions on a single lead alone,” the company concluded in their statement. “Our goal is simple — to keep our stores safe and secure.”
“Reporting on Wegmans’ NYC locations has made clear that biometric surveillance — including facial recognition — is operating in grocery stores where customers have no practical opportunity to provide informed consent or meaningfully opt out,” wrote Legislator Rachel Barnhart of Monroe County, New York in a letter to Wegman’s CEO Colleen Wegman, demanding to know if the same data collection is being implemented outside of New York City.
“Without explicit, binding limits, assurances that biometric data is used ‘only for security’ are insufficient — particularly given growing law enforcement and federal immigration reliance on third-party data sources.”
Letter to Wegmans CEO regarding biometric data collection and usage at stores. pic.twitter.com/TWmwPy4Z2U
— Rachel Barnhart (@rachbarnhart) January 5, 2026
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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