Wawa doesn’t just know coffee, the wildly popular Delaware County-based chain knows how to party.
The No. 1 convenience store in America by customer satisfaction and the 22nd best private company to work for in the nation on Friday morning wrapped up its 60th anniversary celebration with a 65th grand opening or reopening of the year.
The chain is opening stores in central Pennsylvania and northeast Pennsylvania at a rapid clip.
And elsewhere. On Thursday, Wawa opened its 1,100th location, a store in Pensacola, Florida. The iconic brand is on a roll, now in eight states with plans to open stores in the Midwest next year. Wawa employs about 48,000 people.
On Friday, the frenzy was back where the whole empire started 60 years ago: in Ridley Township, Delaware County, with the reopening of the store at Bullens Lane and McDade Boulevard, less than a mile from the original Wawa.
The company now has six stores in Ridley Township and 42 in Delaware County, which is the third smallest county by land area in Pennsylvania.
The convenience retailer opened its first Wawa Food Market on April 16, 1964, in Folsom, a section of the township, with its founder Grahame Wood envisioning a place where friends and neighbors served friends and neighbors with a core purpose of fulfilling lives, and that was also on display on Friday morning.
Each store employs 35 to 45 people and officials said the cost of opening a store is $7.5 million. The average store sees 13,000 customers a week and sells 70,000 gallons of gas a week.
“It’s a busy place. It’s a busy staff,” said company President Brian Schaller, who has been with the company 23 years. “It’s 24 hours. We don’t close our doors.”
Schaller said the chain is expanding to the Midwest next year, but Ridley is where it started.
“We try to make sure in our home county, where we have that brand equity, that we are serving that customer as well,” he said.
Lori Bruce, Wawa senior manager of media relations, said that when stores open in other regions that provides a connection to former Delaware County residents in those areas.
“The stories we hear, it’s an honor to have a place in people’s lives. I was in central Pennsylvania opening a store and the customer who was there used to live in Delco and made it a routine to take his father to Wawa,” Bruce said. “It feels like home. We hear that when we expand to new markets.”
The Bullens Avenue store now has gasoline, which has become a major component to Wawa's business.
Even before the sun was up, hundreds of people stood in line to get T-shirts, noise makers and a free cup of coffee.
George Kelly and his daughter Pamela of Chester got in line at 4:40 a.m. to be first in line.
“We love Wawa,” the father said. “A local neighborhood store with what you need.”
The festivities included a photo booth with their decorated 1918 Wawa antique milk truck, the Philadelphia Eagles’ drumline and mascot Swoop, TV Personality Joey Graziadei, a dance party to kick off the ceremony with the Philadelphia Eagles Cheer Team as well as the company's own Wally the Goose.
There was also hoagie-building competition between the police and firefighters, with lettuce flying.
In addition to the celebration, the Wawa Foundation distributed a number of checks to local nonprofits including $5,000 to the Delaware County Foundation, $10,000 to Delaware County Senior Community Services, $15,000 to the City Team Ministries aiding residents of Chester, $1,000 to the Michael Reagan Scholarships and $1,000 to the Ridley Township Police Association.
Schaller said the company is family oriented, they hire right and it becomes a hard place to leave.
He called the store general manager the most important position in the company.
For the Bullens Avenue store general manager Lauryn Hughes, the day brought her full circle. She started at the store in 2012 after graduating from Temple University and she has been general manager at the location before it closed nearly a year ago.
“It's full circle. It's a very cool experience,” she said. “My first day over eight pots of coffee I was like I'm not going to stay here because I'm not good at this. Twelve-and-a-half years later, and only two pots of coffee, this is the best job I could ever ask for and I am so thankful I stuck with it.”
Bruce said Hughes has become known in the organization as a great developer of careers.
Hughes estimated more than 30 employees at the store have gone on to work in positions throughout the company, including other general managers and area supervisors.
“It’s one of my favorite things about being here: the development and seeing all the hard work come to fruition,” Hughes said.
Asked what makes the company special, she said the store and its customers become a family.
“I know 90% of my customers by name, what they want every day, and they ask about my kids, and ask about my husband,” Hughes added. “The associates I have worked with become friends who turn into family.”
Schaller said the morning routine is where it starts: coffee, sizzle sandwiches but also the personal connection that employees make.
Schaller said the culture of the company keeps employees and while success is the priority, they are also having fun.
“If you go to the corporate office on Monday, we’re having fun if we’re doing it right, but we do like to win,” he said.
Friday’s opening certainly proved that.
Asked about the rivalry between Wawa and cross-state convenience store chain Sheetz, which U.S. Sen. John Fetterman brought up this week after the Eagles beat the Steelers, Schaller said everyone is well aware of it, but he has immense respect for both companies.
“We liked it first of all when the Eagles beat the Steelers to make him say that,” he said. “We love the rivalry. I think they do, too. These are great family stories and great family companies, for America.”