Wawa has expanded into central Pennsylvania, bringing with it charitable donations, a promise of more locations to come and, of course, coffee.

The convenience store chain, known for its sandwiches and hand-crafted drinks, opened its first Franklin County location on Jan. 23 with a crowd that lined up around the building despite a temperature of 3 degrees.

Wawa’s general manager, Cassandra Robinson, and mascot, Wally Goose, had the honor of counting down the door opening for the cold customers, the first 100 of which were given a free Wawa “coffee and connections” t-shirt.

One of those customers was Dakari Dinish from Chambersburg, whose birthday lined up the grand opening. She has been looking forward to this day for nearly three years.

“My first Wawa I went to was in Ocean City, Maryland,” Dinish says. “When I actually got food from Wawa, it was in Frederick, Maryland. That the next closest one, it’s about an hour from here; I looked it up before I came.”

Like many birthday celebrations, this one, too, was a family affair. Dakari’s daughter, Angela Dinish, was present to celebrate the birthdays as well.

“Are you crazy?” Angela responded to being asked what brought her out to the celebration. “It’s because of the Wawa grand opening, and I needed their Wawa coffee, because they are the best.”

Tony Strickland, also of Chambersburg, states the store is an experience for his family as well.

“Me and my family would actually drive to Frederick from Chambersburg just to get food and coffee,” Strickland says. “It’s like a treat for us.”

The Chambersburg location is certain to bring visitors who have taken road trips similar to Strickland’s, but they, too, may have a Wawa coming to them.

According to a press release from the store, Wawa has plans to open 12 more stores in the South-Central Pennsylvania area this year.

Some of the towns named in the press release are Williamsport, Hanover, Lewisburg, Coal and “additional sites in Franklin and Northumberland counties.”

How does a location for a future Wawa get chosen? Area manager Tony Davis describes the research that starts the process, up to two years ahead of a store opening.

“We have a solid real estate department that does all kinds of studies and sees what markets are not saturated,” Davis says. “They look for brand recognition, and the brand recognition we’ve had in Central PA has been just beyond expectations.”

What fuels that recognition? Davis says, like the t-shirts imply, it is the connection they foster with their customers.

“It’s all about our people and our values,” he says. “We have a crazy culture. We take care of each other. We’ll learn our customers by their buying habits, time of day, what they buy. We’ll learn their names and just no other retail out there does it like we do.”

The connections go deeper than their customers, as Wawa brought charitable donations with them. One of Wawa’s guests on opening day was Kir Evancho, a giving officer at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, who was present to discuss the store’s contribution to their mission.

“Wawa is one of our generous donors,” Evancho says. “They’ve been partners with us over the last 23 years, donating over $123,000. And as they’re expanding their footprint, they’re bringing Wawa into the 27 counties that the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank serves.”

Also present to accept a donation for the Ridge and valley region of the Special Olympics was Dominic Johnson, an athlete within the chapter, who said, “These funds and the upcoming in-store campaign at Wawa will go a long way to support our athletes in the future.”

“Our customers range in age from eight to 72 and have the opportunity to compete with many sports fans this year,” Johnson says. “Without the change to travel or to be at places, I never would have imagined being here.”

That community connection was on display as the store hosted a “Hoagies for Heroes” competition at the event that say Chambersburg’s police and fire departments face off in a hoagie building competition. The police officer beat the firefighters 21-14 to bring home a trophy.

In the audience to watch his town’s first responders was Chambersburg Council President Allen Coffman, who said that his father used to go to a Wawa in New Jersey when he was a student. Now, he has a Wawa in his own community.

“They’re going to be good neighbors to us because they really have community outreach,” Coffman says. “I couldn’t be happier that they’re here, and we wish them a lot of success here.”

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