Another Center City Wawa ends 24-hour service

Sucker for that midnight Shorti? Or a steady hankering for a predawn Sizzli?

Well, better check the hours at your nearest Wawa because those tasty Philly delicacies — and everything else Wawa has to offer when the city sleeps — are becoming harder to come by in Center City.

At midnight on Tuesday, Wawa will cease 24-hour operations at yet another of its Center City locations, with the doors now closing at its 20th and Hamilton Street location in Franklintown at 11 p.m.. A store manager who had taped a makeshift sign in the shop window Monday morning to notify customers said he was not authorized to speak on the change.

“I was just told to put up the sign,” he said.

The curbing of late-night hours at the store now means the majority of Center City’s remaining Wawas will no longer be open 24 hours. While the pandemic and changing routines played a role, residents, customers — and store employees who spoke off the record because they were not authorized to speak — said quality of life issues, like excessive panhandling, were also reasons.

On Monday, store officials were not saying much.

“We have limited 24-hour service at some Philadelphia stores which close during much of our lower-traffic overnight hours,” said Lori Bruce, Wawa’s public relations manager in an email. “Some of the changes in hours are recent, and others have been in place … These decisions are made for a variety of reasons with closings taking place during our lower-traffic overnight hours.”

The changes will be in place until further notice, said Bruce, who would not elaborate on specific factors contributing to the closings — and did not say whether any more changes were expected at the convenience store’s Center City locations.

“We recommend checking signage at local stores or visiting wawa.com for operating hours by location,” she said.

The Franklintown store is the latest downtown Wawa to end overnight service in recent years, as seven of Center City’s dozen remaining Wawas now close before midnight.

Wawa has also stopped 24-hour service at its East Market spot (now open to 8 p.m.) and at its 19th and Market store (open to 11 p.m.). Before that, it had ceased 24-hour service at its flagship Center City location on Independence Mall, which opened to fanfare in 2018 as an all-night option. (It remains open nightly until 11.)

In 2020, at the height of the COVID19 pandemic, Wawa permanently closed its popular store at Broad and Walnut, which opened in 2015 as the city’s then-flagship shop, with a brass band and a visit from Mayor Nutter, promising soon-to-be-visiting Pope Francis would drop in for a hoagie. That shop had opened on a 24-hour schedule, but quickly curtailed its late-night hours after a series of incidents, including a stabbing in June 2018.

“This decision was a difficult one,” the company said at the time. “But due to the impact from the pandemic coupled with some operational uncertainties of today, our long-term plans for this store are no longer viable.”

On Monday, residents and neighbors near the Wawa at 19th and Market, said the store was a late-night nuisance before it ended overnight hours.

And in Franklintown, Erica Martin, a groundskeeper for CityView Condominiums, said she couldn’t be happier that the Wawa across the street would no longer be open 24 hours. That’s because it’s her job to clean up after people who camp out near the store.

“We have a ton of trash, we have feces, we have kids, residents, dogs, who can’t come out without being harassed,” Martin said.

A crowd of late-night panhandlers often crowded the entrance to the East Market Wawa, customers and employees said.

Last month, a Starbucks — located nearby at 10th and Chestnut Streets — was closed permanently due to safety concerns.