Wegmans, Fairmount

3577 West Genesee Street, Syracuse, NY 13219-2002
Grade: B+

But seriously, I really was at Wegmans last night. The Farimount location has an extremely nice men's room that is loaded with convenient features, but upon my viewing it simply was nowhere near as clean as it should have been.

I'll start with the good. The restroom's decor is very calming, with earth-toned floor and wall tiles and modern, under-the-mirror lighting for the sinks.

The urinals, toilet and faucets are all automatic, and the paper towel dispensers offer a hands-free design (though each had to be cranked once to produce a new sheet while I was there). The toilet's auto-flushing mechanism proved to be very sensitive, as it flushed while I was crouched in front of the toilet studying the toilet seat cleaner (more on this below).

The hand dryer is standard and adequate, and both soap and hand sanitizer dispenser are included beside the sinks.

Mounted beneath the sink is a pull-down child step, so that children may reach the basins and wash their hands on their own. This is a nice touch that undoubtedly gives kids a sense of independence and accomplishment.

Possibly the most interesting feature of this restroom -- and certainly a feature I have never seen in any other facilities -- is the toilet seat cleaner. This is a dispenser mounted beside the toilet that emits a sanitization liquid so that one might clean the toilet seat off before sitting on it. The illustrated instructions show that you should use a square of toilet paper to collect the liquid and wipe the seat down. This is a nice thought, as employees obviously cannot get in to clean the toilets every single time they are used.

Despite all of these flourishes, though, the restroom stilled appeared untidy. Much as with the Sheetz I reviewed a few weeks ago, the facilities smelled pleasantly of cleaning solution, the floors were still drying from being mopped and a "wet floor" sign was prominently displayed, but whoever had done the mopping had clearly not taken the time to tend to the excess water/used paper towels on the countertop or the overflowing garbage bin. Also, a package of extra toilet paper rolls lay only partially beneath the sink, which only added to the cluttered feel. It is always a good thing to have refills available, but one would think that they would have a storage closet in which to keep such items, and that the employees should be checking the restroom frequently enough to refill toilet paper when it gets low, thus eliminating the need to have a package just lying about like this.