Wawa Debuts New Concept with Opening of First Travel Center in Hope Mills, North Carolina; Announces Two More Travel Center Locations Under Construction
Grand Opening marked with giveaways, festivities, and community support continuing North Carolina Expansion
HOPE MILLS, N.C., Aug. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wawa, Inc., today announced a significant milestone in its history – the grand opening of its first Travel Center! Located in Cumberland County at 630 Chicken Foot Rd. Hope Mills, NC 28348, the location 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 EV 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.
About Wawa’s Hope Mills, NC Grand Opening
At 8 a.m. on Thursday, August 28, Wawa’s Travel Center doors opened for the first time in Hope Mills. The grand opening celebration began with an introduction of the store team and Wawa’s parade of Fuel and EV milestones which include reaching 200 locations hosting EV chargers chainwide. During the grand opening, Wawa launched its “Lending a Helping Hoagie” campaign, with a portion of the first week of hoagie sales, up to $2,500, in the Hope Mills Travel Center store benefitting Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina.
About the New Wawa Travel Center Prototype
With over 8,000 square feet of space, the travel center offers 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. For a link to b-roll footage of the Wawa Travel Center, click here.
Wawa Continues Expansion in North Carolina
The Hope Mills Travel Center marks Wawa’s 15th store in North Carolina. 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.
About Wawa, Inc.
Wawa, Inc., a family and associate owned, privately held company, began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, Pennsylvania, in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and “certified” process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960s, Grahame Wood, George’s grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 in Pennsylvania as an outlet for dairy products. Today, Wawa is your all day, every day stop for freshly prepared foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services and surcharge-free ATMs. Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington, D.C., with more than 1,100 locations to date.
Contact: public.relations@wawa.com
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