Whad’ya know about Wawa? Fun facts about the beloved convenience store
Wawa has 60 years of Pennsylvania roots, and today the commonwealth’s largest private company has more than 1,000 locations in several states.
Wawa, the convenience store with a cult following, celebrates 60 years of business on Tuesday, April 16. But did you know Wawa was a part of the Pennsylvania landscape long before the first Wawa market opened its doors on April 16, 1964?
We’ve unearthed a handful of fun facts about the chain, which got its start in Pennsylvania before it built more than 1,000 stores in 6 states and the District of Columbia. Grab a hoagie or a hot cup of coffee — all sizes of Wawa coffee are free on April 16 — and sit back to learn about one of (more on that later) Pa.’s favorite gas station markets.
Wawa isn’t just a funny, made-up name.
There’s a much simpler explanation for the Wawa moniker: The convenience store chain is headquartered in the small town of Wawa, Pa. That’s also where an early incarnation of the Wawa business — a dairy farm — got its start in 1902. But is the town name just nonsense? Nope!
The town of Wawa’s name comes from the Ojibwe term for a snow goose — we’we, actually pronounced “way-way.” Fittingly, the Wawa logo is emblazoned with a Canada goose! Plus, Wawa’s mascot, Wally Goose, is a Canada goose.
“Wawa is a state of mind,” Wawa’s then-vice president Fritz Schroeder said of the town in 1989, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “If you want to be in Wawa, you can be in Wawa.”
The family business behind Wawa is more than 200 years old.
But of course, Wawa gas stations and convenience stores haven’t been around for 200 years. The business first started as a New Jersey iron foundry in 1803. Roughly 100 years later, the family shifted to the dairy industry, establishing the Wawa Dairy Farm at the turn of the twentieth century.
Wawa’s transition to the current store model is a history lesson illustrating changing consumer preferences.
For decades, the Wawa Dairy Farm sold milk and dairy products to people in Greater Philadelphia. When Wawa began selling pasteurized milk — safer than raw milk — its popularity grew. But after World War II, people began to rely less on the touring milkman and more on neighborhood stores. So, Wawa transitioned to the store model to meet that consumer preference, and the first Wawa market — the one we’re celebrating April 16 — opened its doors 60 years ago in Folsom, Pa.
Nearly 40% of the Wawa company is owned by its associates through an employee stock-sharing program.
In 1977, Wawa began sharing profits with its employees through a traditional employee benefit, a profit-sharing program. Then, in 1993, it transitioned to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which grants workers company stock. As a result, Wawa employees own a sizable portion of the company — which is the largest private company in Pennsylvania.
You can visit a Wawa with a retro theme in New Jersey.
Not every Wawa is gas-station-themed! The Wildwood, N.J. Wawa has a retro design with wavy lines and lots of neon lights, a nod to the Wildwood community’s role as an initial hub for doo-wop music.
You can visit Wawa to get cash without paying extra fees.
In a move eventually celebrated by the cashless youth of the future, Wawa made ATMs at its stores surcharge-free in 1996 as part of a partnership with PNC Bank. Since then, customers have made more than a billion surcharge-free withdrawals — and when it hit one billion in 2010, there was a parade. You may not have known about Wawa’s fee-free ATMs if you’ve just assumed every ATM is out to exploit you for $5. Not those at Wawa! Thank you, Wawa.
Wawa fans may have beef with Sheetz, but Wawa does not.
I’m working on a modern adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” called “The Pennsylvania Story: A Tale of a Convenience Store Rivalry: Maybe Three, If You’re Counting Rutter’s.” Yeah, it’s got two colons.
Anyway, Sheetz fans and Wawa fans have fought the good fight, mostly via internet comments, about which Pennsylvania-borne gas station chain is better, by way of important factors like which chain has tastier made-to-order options, friendlier staff, and cleaner bathrooms. But Wawa and Sheetz are actually on pretty good terms as companies because the rivalry isn’t too strong on the balance sheet…z. Wawa has its side of the state in eastern Pa. and Sheetz has the West.
Now, there have been reports of Wawa infringing on Sheetz territory by trying to expand into central Pa. If there is a confrontation, it will definitely inspire the climax of my story about star-crossed lovers, cursed to work at different gas stations …
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