Wawa is continuing its North Carolina expansion with the grand opening of its first store in Cumberland County this Friday, Aug. 8.

The festivities will start at 7:45 a.m. with Wawa General Manager Eric Pressley-Butler doing the honors of counting down the moment when the doors open for the very first time at 8:00 a.m., with free Wawa t-shirts for the first 250 customers, as supplies last, and free any size hot coffee through August 10th!

Immediately following at 8:30 a.m., customers are invited to participate in a brief ceremony to celebrate the new store team and the positive impact the associates will have on the community. The program includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony with local officials; excited customers; and a “Hoagies for Heroes” hoagie-building competition between first responders benefitting local charities.

The new Wawa is located at  3613 Raeford Road in Fayetteville.

With the opening of its first store in Fayetteville, Wawa will have 13 stores in North Carolina and projects to open up to four additional stores by the end of the year, including its first Travel Center in Hope Mills. Over the next 8-10 years, Wawa plans to build and open 6-8 stores per year reaching a total of 90 stores in North Carolina. To build each store, Wawa will invest more than $7.5 million per store and employ, on average, 140 contractors and local partners to build the store. Once open, each store will employ an average of 35 associates with Wawa expecting to create more than 3,000 long-term new jobs as a result of expansion in North Carolina.