Dive Brief:
- Wawa has revealed plans to open 40 new convenience stores in central Pennsylvania over the next five years, according to a company announcement.
- This year, that includes an undisclosed number of locations in Middletown, York, Dover, Williamsport, Hanover and Enola. Wawa also plans to bring up to 12 locations by the end of 2025 to Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lycoming, Northumberland, Union and York counties.
- These openings in Pennsylvania support Wawa’s broader plans to reach 1,800 convenience stores in its network around the U.S. by 2030.
Dive Insight:
Over the past few years, most of the news about Wawa’s major growth plans has been centered around the company’s expansion into new states such as Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and others.
However, Wawa’s latest announcement that it will continue growing throughout Pennsylvania shows that the retailer remains focused on reaching new customers even in its home state. This move will bring it notably closer to its rival Sheetz, whose stores are heavily located across central and western Pennsylvania, as well as York-based Rutter’s.
Wawa will spend about $7 million building each new store in central Pennsylvania, according to the announcement. It plans to debut about five to seven locations per year over the next half-decade in the region. Once open, each store will employ about 35 team members.
On Wednesday, Wawa held a community partnership event at the Pennsylvania State Capitol to preview its expansion plans in the region. The event featured a groundbreaking to mark the start of construction on its first store in central Pennsylvania, located in Middletown.
“We are thrilled to break ground on our first store in the region, launch our expansion plans and get closer to our first grand openings in 2024,” President Brian Schaller said in the announcement.
Wawa currently operates over 1,000 convenience stores across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C.
