That’s a lot of Wawas! Chain plans on doubling number of stores

Arguably New Jersey’s favorite convenience store, Wawa, has announced an aggressive expansion plan, with the goal of doubling the number of locations in the next eight years, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

While Wawa’s CEO, Chris Geyhens, told the Business Journal that they plan on expanding into new markets, some of the new locations will be in existing markets, which means more Wawas in New Jersey, where it all started.

Wawa currently runs about 960 stores with plans to eventually open around 100 a year, bringing the total to about 1,800 by 2030. At least six new Wawas in New Jersey are planned for this year: North Bergen, Vineland, Egg Harbor City, Frankford, Voorhees and Union, according to Patch.com. There are currently 273 New Jersey Wawa locations.

By comparison, Quick Chek, one of Wawa’s big competitors in New Jersey, operates around 150 stores in New York and New Jersey.

While the stores are ubiquitous in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, there are on stores between Virginia and Florida, and the company is looking to expand in the states in between.

They are also contemplating new styles of stores, with rest stop style stores with electric vehicle charging stations being considered. They might even have drive-thru only locations, Geyhens told the Philadelphian Business Journal.

To those who say that these goals are ambitious, Geyhens says,

“The reality is, if you look at the size of our business, we've been fairly conservative with our growth.”

In case you’re unfamiliar with Wawa (and I don’t know who would be in New Jersey), they are a convenience store, most of which have gas pumps; they are famous for their hoagies and coffee, among other things.

Mashed.com just named the Wawa hoagie the “best gas station food” in New Jersey.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now:

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