Wawa announces entry into Fayetteville market; locations planned for Cumberland and Robeson Counties

By Faith Hatton, posted May 15, 2024 on BizFayetteville.com

The Wawa Community Partnership Tour took over Segra Stadium on Wednesday, May 15.

Wawa storefront coming soon to Fayetteville, Hope Mills and Lumberton. Photo provided by: Wawa

Wawa, – a privately held, family-owned chain of over 1,050 convenience retail stores currently operating in seven states and Washington, D.C.- announced today that they will soon be bringing their brand to the Fayetteville area with plans to have up to 15 stores open within the next five to eight years.

Wawa leadership met with the community and fans of the brand on the third stop in their Community Partnership Tour across North Carolina. During the event, held at Segra Stadium in Downtown Fayetteville, Wawa’s VIP customers were able to get a taste of their breakfast and lunch menu items, share stories of their past experiences with the brand and hear from leadership about the company’s plans to come to Fayetteville and beyond.

There are five Wawa locations currently under contract in Cumberland and Robeson Counties including:

Raeford Road and Roxie Road, Fayetteville, NC
5750 Corporation Drive, Hope Mills, NC (also the future location of the first Wawa Travel Center)
3901 Ramsey St., Fayetteville, NC
6528 rockfish Road, Fayetteville, NC
Fayetteville Rd. & Jackson Ct., Lumberton, NC
The first North Carolina Wawa location will be opening on May 16 at 1900 Croatan Highway in Kill Devil Hills in Dare County, officially marking the brand’s entrance to the state.

Wawa VIP Customers were able to show their support for the brand and welcome them to Fayetteville.

Development on the first Fayetteville location at Raeford Road and Roxie Road and the Lumberton location is expected to begin in the next 30 days with a timeline in place to open both locations in early 2025. The Travel Center planned for Hope Mills is expected to open in the second quarter of 2025 and will offer expanded amenities.

“It's a little different than our standard community store. But there are some common elements. It’s meant for two things: to support the family traveler, and also the professional driver. So for the family traveler, we'll have expanded restrooms, it’s going to be right off of the interstate. It will have parking spaces for RV’s, boats in tow, trailers in tow, things of that nature. It will have more parking than our standard neighborhood convenience store has and it will have in store seating as well,” said Manager of Engineering for Wawa Ted Iobst. “For the professional driver, we will have high speed diesel offered for them to fuel, it will have a CAT weigh station, which is important to them for certifications, free tractor trailer parking and we will also merchandise for the professional driver as well."

To build each store, Wawa will be investing more than $7 million per store and employ, on average, 140 contractors and local partners to help with construction. Once open, each store will employ an average of 35 employees.

In 2025, Wawa expects to open up to 11 stores in additional counties including Robeson, Cumberland, Pitt, Onslow, Johnston, Nash, Pender, Brunswick and New Hanover Counties. Over the next eight- ten years, Wawa plans to open six to eight stores per year reaching a total of 90 stores throughout the state and bringing an estimated 3,000 new long term jobs as a result of their expansion into North Carolina.

“We were thrilled to share our ‘fight plan’ for North Carolina and provide details on locations to new areas during our three stop Community Partnership Tour,” said Wawa Director of Store Operations Kim Dowgielewicz. “Our community partnership events also gave us the opportunity to meet new community members and talk a little bit about our history and what makes Wawa such an ideal fit for communities in this region. We can’t wait to open our doors to serve our new friends and neighbors!”

During the Community Partnership event, Wawa encouraged guests to enjoy a Taste of Wawa, including samples of freshly made hoagies, freshly brewed coffee and other handcrafted beverages that will be regularly featured menu items in their stores. Wawa’s Menu features customizable menu options for breakfast, lunch and dinner beyond normal convenience store offerings.

“What we promise to deliver you is fresh food and beverages every time you visit. And we have hundreds if not thousands of choices, based on that customization, so that you can make it the way you want it. You can get your favorite hoagie or your sandwich, whatever it may be just the way you like it. And then if you're in a rush on the way home and you need a pizza, we'll have that for you too. There’s just endless combinations and we have that because we’re listening to customers and making sure that we have the right products,” said Wawa’s VP of Food & Beverages Mary-Rose Hannum.

Wawa volunteers and event attendees assemble more than 200 care packages to be distributed to military members through USO of North Carolina’s Fort Liberty chapter.

Also during the event, The Wawa Foundation put their best foot forward with the military community by partnering with the USO of North Carolina’s Fort Liberty chapter. During the event they helped organize volunteers and attendees of the event to assemble more than 200 care packages to be distributed to military members through USO programs serving military bases in the region. They also presented a $5,000 donation to the USO of North Carolina.

“I want to thank everybody here for building these snack bags that we did today in a record amount of time like 35 minutes,” said Fort Liberty USO Center Operations Specialist Robert Whitman. “They will be used for soldiers going out of Fort Liberty or the Fayetteville Airport. We do a lot of no notice deployments; that means a soldier can get a call in the middle of night and out of here within a matter of 12 hours. So when we find out about it, having these already pre-built is great for us and when they get on the planes, we can give the snack packs for their long flight. So it's very phenomenal that you guys did this for us today. And I thank you and I look forward to living, playing and working with you guys in the future and the local community here and Fort Liberty.”

Wawa donates $5,000 to USO of North Carolina’s Fort Liberty chapter.

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