Wawa Opens First Travel Center as Part of Growth Plan
Convenience store chain Wawa will open its first travel center, in Hope Mills, Cumberland County, North Carolina, on Aug. 28.
Located at 2025 630 Chicken Foot Road, the more than 8,000-square-foot travel center will offer Wawa’s signature fresh food and beverage items, fuel for passenger vehicles and a high-speed diesel fuel court for the needs of professional tractor-trailer drivers. Fuel features include six high-speed diesel lanes accepting over the road (OTR) payments, and 20 fuel spots for passenger drivers.
The store will have interior and exterior seating areas and a large open design for the fresh food and beverage area. Other amenities will include a CAT weigh station, free parking for tractor-trailers, well-appointed restrooms and a pet relief area.
“We are thrilled to pilot this new format in Hope Mills and believe this new travel center model is a great way to bring Wawa to customers while serving a need to the travelers,” John Poplawski, Wawa chief real estate officer said. “Not only will our Wawa Travel Center meet the fueling needs of professional drivers, but our store will offer the freshest of food, beverages, conveniences and the friendliest flock of associates while also remaining a community hub for local friends and neighbors to enjoy.”
Growth Spurt
Wawa plans to build and open six to eight stores per year over the next eight to 10 years in North Carolina, reaching a total of 90 stores for the state. To build each store, Wawa will invest more than $7.5 million per location and employ, on average, 140 contractors and local partners to build it. Once open, each location will employ an average of 35 associates, with Wawa expecting to create more than 3,000 long-term new jobs as a result of its expansion in North Carolina.
In its ongoing bid to expand to new markets, convenience store chain Wawa recently celebrated the official start of construction on stores in the Tennessee cities of Murfreesboro and Clarksville. Both locations are slated to open in the second half of 2026.
A few months ago, Wawa officially entered Indiana, with plans to open a total of eight stores in the Hoosier State by the end of 2025.
Also this year, Wawa debuted its first convenience store in the state of Ohio, with plans to open eight to 10 locations in that state this year.
Founded in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey, Pennsylvania-based Wawa opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 in Pennsylvania as an outlet for dairy products. Today, the privately held company operates more than 1,100 locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Washington, D.C.
This article was originally published on P2PI-sibling brand, Progressive Grocer.
In 2024, P2PI visited the largest Wawa that exists. We provide a close look inside the store and detail the rich history the flagship location pays tribute to.
