Earlier this month Wawa revealed plans to open non-traditional travel centers in existing markets as well as new markets like North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio in the coming years. Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens said the locations will offer long-distance travelers more options for where they can refuel and get a snack.
“Think of it as a Wawa on steroids,” Gheysens said, according to a report in the Philadelphia Business Journal. “A lot bigger of a store, a lot bigger of an offer, a lot bigger of a parking lot, more amenities.”
Gheysens said that implementing these travel centers will be a long process because they are big and will be located off major highways, and the planning and approval processes may take several years. The company’s next step is to identify locations.
Wawa currently has a few “quasi-travel centers” in existing markets like Pennsylvania and Virginia, and these centers have performed well, according to Gheysens. Overall, Wawa has more than 950 convenience stores in PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA, FL and Washington, D.C.