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Wawa plans to open more than 70 new stores this year

Some of the new stores will be in Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Customers enter the Wawa at 21st and Hamilton Streets in 2022. The store is closing because its lease was not renewed. Despite Wawa's plans to expand into other states, the store would be the seventh Wawa in the city to close since 2020.
Customers enter the Wawa at 21st and Hamilton Streets in 2022. The store is closing because its lease was not renewed. Despite Wawa's plans to expand into other states, the store would be the seventh Wawa in the city to close since 2020.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Wawa is expanding south to Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina, with plans to open its first stores in those states this year.

The expansion is part of the company’s plans to open more than 70 stores in 2024, as the company marks its 60th year in business. A “Wawa Food Market” first opened in Pennsylvania in 1964 selling dairy products. Since then, the company has expanded to around 1,000 locations.

“Since our first store opened its doors 60 years ago, it’s been an honor serving our communities with trusted quality products and convenience to most importantly offering comfort and camaraderie to local friends and neighbors,” said Chris Gheysens, Wawa’s CEO in a statement.

This week, Wawa announced its first store in Alabama will open on April 25 in Fairhope. More stores in the state are expected to open this summer.

Gheysens has said that the company plans to open about 100 new stores each year and have 2,000 stores by 2030. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that a Wawa store employee said the company plans to eventually have stores in all states.

Expansion in the south

Last year, Wawa announced that it had plans to bring at least 40 new Wawa stores to the Florida Panhandle and Alabama Gulf Coast regions over the next eight to 10 years. The company also announced last year plans to open its first stores in North Carolina in 2024, with at least 80 stores expected to open in the state in the next 10 years.

Earlier this month, the company also broke ground on two new locations in Georgia that are expected to open later this year. Wawa plans to open 26 stores in southern and coastal Georgia in the next five to eight years. Each store, which will employ about 35 people, requires an estimated $7 million investment from the company to build.

The expansion south comes as Wawa announced last year that it would open 160 stores across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana in the next eight to 10 years.

Wawa has been closing local stores in Philadelphia in recent years amid safety concerns. Last week, The Inquirer reported that a store at 21st and Hamilton Streets is closing because the store’s lease was not renewed, making it the seventh Wawa in the city to close since 2020. Stores that were planned for suburban areas in the Philadelphia region have also faced pushback from residents.