BizFayetteville logo print

Wawa invites community to grand opening for NC’s first-ever Travel Center on Aug. 28

By Staff Report, posted Aug 26, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

Photo provided by: Wawa

Wawa, a privately held, family and associate-owned chain of more than 1,100 convenience retail stores currently operating in twelve states and Washington, DC, has announced the date of Thursday, Aug. 28, for its first travel center opening in Hope Mills, Cumberland County, North Carolina with grand opening details as follows:

Wawa’s grand opening festivities will include free t-shirts for the first 250 customers, free any size hot coffee from Aug. 28- Aug. 31, 2025, a ceremonial “Honk” by mascot Wally Goose with some of the nation’s most popular big rig truckers and a ribbon cutting. 

The event will also highlight community partnerships and support for local organizations and celebrate local everyday heroes with Wawa’s signature “Hoagies for Heroes” initiative.

“We are thrilled to pilot this new format in Hope Mills and believe this new travel center model is a great way to bring Wawa to customers while serving a need to the travelers,” said John Poplawski, Wawa Chief Real Estate Officer in a press release. “Not only will our Wawa Travel Center meet the fueling needs of professional drivers, but our store will offer the freshest of food, beverages, conveniences and the friendliest flock of associates, while also remaining a community hub for local friends and neighbors to enjoy.”

With over 8,000 square feet of space, the travel center will offer Wawa’s signature fresh food and beverage offer, fuel for passenger vehicles and a high-speed diesel fuel court for the needs of professional tractor trailer drivers. Fuel features include six high speed diesel fuel lanes, accepting over the road (OTR) payments, and 20 fuel spots for passenger drivers.

The store will have interior and exterior seating areas and a large open design for the fresh food and beverage area. Other amenities include a CAT weigh station, free parking for tractor-trailers, well-appointed restrooms and a pet relief area.

Over the next 8-10 years, Wawa plans to build and open six to eight 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.

Soar with Wawa!

Wawa’s expansion plans will create thousands of new jobs and career opportunities for those interested in soaring with us

as we expand to North Carolina. Joining the Wawa team makes you part of a longstanding tradition of success that spans decades, hundreds of stores, multiple states and counting! Wawa associates own 39% of the company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). View career opportunities at Wawa and examples of fulfilling careers.

Copyright © 2025 Enhanced Media Management Inc. dba Greater Fayetteville Business Journal
This story may be displayed, reformatted and printed for your personal, noncommercial use only and in accordance with our Terms of Service located at https://bizfayetteville.com/useragreement.