On Thursday, Aug. 28, Wawa, Inc., announced a significant milestone in its history: the grand opening of its first travel center.  Located in Cumberland County at 630 Chicken Foot Road in Hope Mills, N.C., the store is the first of its kind chainwide designed to serve professional drivers, family travelers and local friends and neighbors. 

To mark the milestone, Wawa was joined by hundreds of customers, local officials and community partners for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, parade of fuel and electric vehicle milestones and a “Hoagies for Heroes” hoagie-building competition honoring first responders.

“We’re thrilled to premier the new travel center format in Hope Mills and bring Wawa’s fresh food, beverages and convenience to local customers while serving a need to the community, travelers and professional drivers! This historic milestone kicks off the next chapter of our growth as we debut a new store format and prepare to bring it to additional locations in Ohio and Indiana in the coming months,” said Brian Schaller, president of Wawa in a press release.

Featuring over 8,000 square feet of space, the travel center offers Wawa’s signature fresh food menu, fuel for passenger vehicles and a high-speed diesel fuel court for the needs of professional tractor trailer drivers. 

Excitement for the new fuel offerings the day before at the Taste of Wawa sneak peek event. To highlight the features of this new facility, the Wawa team invited truckers and their families from across the country along with YouTubers Alex and Jena Mai AKA Mutha Trucker and Tommy, Brannon and Brian from the YouTube channel SEMI Casual to have the honors of being the first to fuel up their trucks during a “First Fuel” ceremony and also have the “First Honk” in the fuel bay. 

Alex Mai, an experienced truck driver with over 10 years as an owner operator in the industry shared his excitement for this new resource for other drivers.

“All these drivers are owner operators, family based, started from nothing, and they built incredible lives for themselves, and for me to be able to have the opportunity to invite them to be here and have that first honk. It was really amazing. I'm appreciative,” shared Alex. “The fact that Wawa provides free truck parking for them as well,  it's such a big need right now in the trucking industry. When my drivers and my friends walked in here, and they're greeting everybody and make them feel special. It makes it feel like a second home, and that's what's important, because as drivers, we're away from our families, so we need a second home.” 

Dedicated to being at the grand opening, the SEMI Casual crew, who also build their custom trucks. worked their way  through an unexpected travel delay, damage to their truck and two break downs just to be there. 

“It was supposed to be an eight hour drive, but it ended up being a 12 hour drive. It was an eventful trip down here, but we wanted to be here. We got the first ceremonial honk and put a horn in our truck that actually sounded like a goose,” shared SEMI Casual Founder Tommy Fitzgerald. “It feels like this particular truck stop was built with owner operators and small fleets in mind. If you're not wanting to go with a huge truck stop that's got hundreds and hundreds of trucks in it, then this is definitely the place for you. I mean this, it's very clean, the restrooms, the facilities, the inside, it's very spacious, it's not going to be elbows to elbows.” 

As part of the Taste of Wawa event, Wawa Inc. announced the launch of their Lending a Helping Hoagie program. During their first week, Wawa gave back with a portion of proceeds from every hoagie sold, up to $2,500, to Second Harvest Food Bank in Fayetteville. 

The grand opening also saw the return of another fundraising event, Hoagies for Heroes, where both the Hope Mills Police Department and Hope Mills Fire Department went head to head to win a donation towards a charity of their choice. The Hope Mills Police Department took home the title and $1,000 for the Hope Mills Police Foundation. 

The Hope Mills Fire Department also took home $1,000 for local nonprofit the Alms House in Hope Mills. 

The Wawa Travel Center is open 24 hours seven days a week. To learn more about the location’s offerings you can go online to www.wawa.com/travel-center. 

Editor’s Note: An extended version of this story is available in the 9/5 print issue.