Wawa is opening up shop in Ohio.
The popular convenience store chain opened its first Ohio location on Wednesday morning in Liberty Township, near Cincinnati.
The grand opening event, held on Wawa’s 61st anniversary, included announcements of grants to local “community partners,” a “Hoagies for Heroes hoagie-building contest,” and a ribbon-cutting, according to the company.
The new Liberty Township location opens the door for Wawa’s expansion into the Midwest and adds another state to the company’s footprint.
It is the “first of nine Wawa stores slated to open in Ohio by year’s end,” according to Wawa.
“We’re thrilled to fly into Ohio and bring our unique combination of fresh food and beverage, convenience, and service to new friends and neighbors in the Buckeye State,” Brian Schaller, president of Wawa Inc., said. “This historic milestone kicks off the next chapter of our growth in the Midwest, and we are overjoyed at the warm welcome we continue to receive from so many communities we’re now proud to count as part of the Wawa flock.”
Wawa estimates that its planned expansion in the Buckeye State will create approximately 2,000 long-term new jobs.
Wawa plans to open 45 to 55 stores in Ohio over the next decade, with an average of four to ten new stores opening each year.
Wawa plans to invest more than $7.5 million in each of the stores, according to the company.
Wawa has been rapidly expanding in recent years and now operates over 1,100 locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, D.C., and, as of Wednesday, Ohio, its tenth state.
In November, it opened a store in Bainbridge, Georgia, marking its ninth state.
According to recent press releases from the company, Kentucky and Indiana will both get their first Wawa locations this year, with nine in the former and ten in the latter.
The company intends to expand its convenience stores to Tennessee and West Virginia in the future.
In October, Wawa topped the American Consumer Satisfaction Index’s list of convenience store chains. It received a score of 82 out of 100.
This helped it outperform chains such as QuikTrip, Buc-ee’s, and Murphy USA, which ranked second, third, and fourth, respectively, according to the ACSI.
