Dive Brief:
- Wawa will open its first Kentucky store on Thursday in Louisville, according to a company announcement.
- This is the first of up to eight stores expected to open in that state through the end of the year.
- After the Kentucky opening, Wawa will have debuted in six of the eight new states it has targeted since 2022.
Dive Insight:
Wawa spent much of 2022 announcing plans to enter seven new states — Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina — in the years to follow. It then added West Virginia to the slate in 2024.
The openings began with Alabama in April 2024. North Carolina followed shortly after, with Wawa’s Georgia debut coming in November of that year.
Earlier this year, both Ohio and Indiana received their first Wawas.
Coincidentally, the Indiana opening coincided with QuikTrip’s first store in the state as well — and both chose to debut on the same street in the same small town.
Once Kentucky’s first site is open, only Tennessee and West Virginia Wawa fans will still be left waiting. The company has broken ground on sites in both states.
Wawa plans to open dozens of stores in each of these states over the next few years, according to several announcements from the company.
In addition to making good on the first phase of its expansion plans, Wawa has also been busy boosting operations and amenities over the past few months. The retailer partnered with Ionna to grow its electric vehicle charging footprint, rolled out a new credit card and expanded its partnership with McLane to support its expansion in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
