Wawa Named America’s Favorite Convenience Store

[cpzilliacus]

http://www.uwishunu.com/2015/07/wawa-named-americas-favorite-convenience-store/

[Takumi]

Only because Sheetz doesn't have as far of a reach yet.

[froggie]

Sheetz is better.

Cumbie's (as many in New England call Cumberland Farms) isn't bad, but I wish they had better food selection including touch-screen ordering like what Wawa and Sheetz have.

[noelbotevera]

Sheetz is better.

Cumbie's (as many in New England call Cumberland Farms) isn't bad, but I wish they had better food selection including touch-screen ordering like what Wawa and Sheetz have.

Sheetz does have a far reach (there is 3 in Chambersburg), combined with your statement (Sheetz is better), then yeah, I can call that true. Wawa does not have a much of a far reach (saw 1 in Philadelphia) as Sheetz, but still is pretty good.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Must be an east coast thing. I read the article and was surprised to see that they offer their own food rather than having a Subway or Arby's on the premises. I'm not aware of any western chains that are set up in this way.

[DaBigE]

Shenanigans...How can a place be America's Favorite anything if they don't have full national penetration? That would be like saying Culver's has America's favorite custard. Until these forums, I had never even heard of WaWa (frankly, I thought it was slang for something rather than an actual store). Except for most of the gas stations, the only one on that list in Wisconsin is 7-Eleven. QuikTrip ≠ KwikTrip.

[Pete from Boston]

Shenanigans...How can a place be America's Favorite anything if they don't have full national penetration? That would be like saying Culver's has America's favorite custard. Until these forums, I had never even heard of WaWa (frankly, I thought it was slang for something rather than an actual store). Except for most of the gas stations, the only one on that list in Wisconsin is 7-Eleven. QuikTrip ≠ KwikTrip.

I guess people in the East love Wawa more than people on the rest of the US love any convenience store.

Re: Cumberland Farms, the newer ones are not bad, but there are so many older duds that drag down my impression of the chain as a whole.  I have never seen one with made-to-order sandwiches not outsourced to Subway, which keeps them out of the running for best anything.

[Brandon]

Shenanigans...How can a place be America's Favorite anything if they don't have full national penetration? That would be like saying Culver's has America's favorite custard. Until these forums, I had never even heard of WaWa (frankly, I thought it was slang for something rather than an actual store). Except for most of the gas stations, the only one on that list in Wisconsin is 7-Eleven. QuikTrip ≠ KwikTrip.

I guess people in the East love Wawa more than people on the rest of the US love any convenience store.

Or it could be indicative of the poor quality of the eastern restaurants that people would rather eat at a convenience store than at those east coast restaurants.  I haven't been east of the Appalachians enough to tell.

[froggie]

Sheetz does have a far reach (there is 3 in Chambersburg), combined with your statement (Sheetz is better), then yeah, I can call that true. Wawa does not have a much of a far reach (saw 1 in Philadelphia) as Sheetz, but still is pretty good.

Sheetz being "better" is my personal opinion.

Regarding geographic reach, the two largely serve different market areas...there's very little overlap between the two.  Sheetz ranges from North Carolina to Lake Erie, but except for Washington, NC stays away from the Atlantic coast, which is very much Wawa territory from the Hampton Roads area to northern New Jersey.  It should also be noted that Wawa is opening 15 locations in Florida this year, so technically their geographic reach will soon be greater than Sheetz.

And while there is only 1 Wawa in Philly that sells gas, there are several (at least 8) non-gas-selling Wawa convenience stores in Philly.

Or it could be indicative of the poor quality of the eastern restaurants that people would rather eat at a convenience store than at those east coast restaurants.  I haven't been east of the Appalachians enough to tell.

Some of it is convenience...much easier to make 1 stop for gas and food when you're traveling than it is to make 2 separate stops.

Some of it is the two companies desire to keep everything "in house" under the same label.  I've seen a number of gas stations and travel centers on the East Coast that had food, but it was usually some contract or joint effort with a fast food company (Subway and McDonalds being the two most popular, but I've also seen Arby's and Wendy's).

[noelbotevera]

My opinion too, I like sheetz more.

[Ian]

I guess I'm the only one here who prefers Wawa...

[slorydn1]

What's a Wawa? (LOL)

I always thought that was what my little brother called the bottle when he first started to talk circa 1976.

[jakeroot]

Wawa and Sheetz sound like washing detergent.

[jp the roadgeek]

I wish Wawa or Sheetz would consider returning/coming to New England.  The renovated Cumby's are ok, but I love Wawa's Iced Coffee and Sheetz's overall concept. And while they're at it, bring TastyKake pies up with them.

[hotdogPi]

I thought Cumberland Farms was a gas station company (with competitive prices).

[Alex4897]

Wawa is my all-time favorite, and I think most everyone I know in my area will probably agree with me.

[Ian]

Wawa is my all-time favorite, and I think most everyone I know in my area will probably agree with me.

Hear, hear!

[Rothman]

Wawa and Sheetz sound like washing detergent.

You win the Internet for today.

[jeffandnicole]

Haters.  All of you!  (Except Ian & Alex!)   

In general, people prefer Sheetz for their friendly customer service.  People prefer Wawa for their coffee.

The two CEOs are actually good friends, as some news stories have mentioned, and would even get together on occasion.  They had to dial that back since they are competing in some markets now.   Both of them are very similar in operation; including the touch screens that you use to order your food, then pay for it while waiting for it to be prepared.  The biggest difference was Sheetz invited you to hang around a bit and enjoy your food with indoor or outdoor tables and benches. Wawa was always designed to get you in and get you back on the road.

In many Wawas, you'll notice that people tend to want to park on the side of the building, rather than the front.  That's mainly due to all the activity with cars constantly pulling in and out, especially with the gas pumps there.

Wawa also designed their market in a way where their trucks could get there within a normal shift from their Delaware County, PA warehouses.  Thus, that was their central point, and they fanned out from there.  They stayed away from the NYC market because the traffic issues didn't allow for their time demands.  They have extended their reach first into Maryland and then Virginia; I believe around MP 30 - 40 of I-95 is the furthest south they extend their Philly market (not sure how their trucks handle that drive, which would approach 12 hours round trip without stops).

The Florida market was a huge change for the store, but one they figured they could deal with because of the huge number of implants from the Philly area that are familiar with the Wawa brand.  They did change some of their philosophes when dealing with the slower and older Florida market - some of their stores have areas to sit down and eat for example.  I'm not sure if they truck the milk down there from PA or if they use a secondary warehouse/bottler down there.

Every Wawa store makes a profit. They close down the least-profitable Wawas on occasion.  In many cases it's because they opened a new Wawa a short distance away with gas pumps, but other times they just close them down for no apparent reason.  Almost always they immediately become an independent convenience store (which shows they are actively marketing them; they just don't close down without warning to the store employees), although some have become farmers markets, professional offices, etc.

Wawa has stock, but it's all privately held by employees with the company and not publically traded.  Someone was telling me recently that unlike many private companies, the employees collectively have more stock (60%) than the ownership group, which is unusual.

Wawa still maintains fee-free ATM use.  Yes, your own bank may charge you, but not Wawa (they are PNC Bank branded ATMs, so their customers get true fee-free ATM use there).  This started a good 25 years ago when many banks started charging non-customers for using the ATM.  The thinking is that you'll go to Wawa, use the ATM to withdraw cash, then spend it in the store.  Wawa now readily accepts credit cards and you can pay via their App, neither of which you could do when the ATMs were first introduced into their stores, but they keep them fee-free anyway. 

Footnote to this: While they advertise all their stores have fee-free ATMs, there's actually a single store, in the Pike Creek, Newark, DE area, that does not have an ATM.  The shopping center agreed to allow a bank there to have the only ATM within that shopping center.  I only know this because I worked at that Wawa for 6 months or so while in college; 20 years ago (oh good Lord...that long ago???).  Last time I stopped by, they still didn't have an ATM within the store.

(Yeah, I guess I'm a small fan of Wawa) 

[noelbotevera]

I wish Wawa or Sheetz would consider returning/coming to New England.  The renovated Cumby's are ok, but I love Wawa's Iced Coffee and Sheetz's overall concept. And while they're at it, bring TastyKake pies up with them.

Sheetz you can find in Pennsylvania. Those aren't hard. There is still a ton in New England.

Wawa's are a little bit more scattered, and more hidden, but still rewarding if you find one.

[spooky]

I wish Wawa or Sheetz would consider returning/coming to New England.  The renovated Cumby's are ok, but I love Wawa's Iced Coffee and Sheetz's overall concept. And while they're at it, bring TastyKake pies up with them.

I'm curious - what is Sheetz's "overall concept"? I've been in some along I-81 in VA and I didn't notice that it was any different from any other convenience store.

[froggie]

Sheetz you can find in Pennsylvania. Those aren't hard. There is still a ton in New England.

You have got to be kidding.  There are no Sheetz further northeast than the Allentown and Scranton areas.  Not even close to New England.

[noelbotevera]

Sheetz you can find in Pennsylvania. Those aren't hard. There is still a ton in New England.

You have got to be kidding.  There are no Sheetz further northeast than the Allentown and Scranton areas.  Not even close to New England.

If memory serves, there was a Sheetz on I-95 west of Groton and east of CT 9 when we went to Rhode Island once. It was 6 years ago so I don't remember.

[briantroutman]

I wish Wawa or Sheetz would consider returning/coming to New England.  The renovated Cumby's are ok, but I love Wawa's Iced Coffee and Sheetz's overall concept. And while they're at it, bring TastyKake pies up with them.

I'm curious - what is Sheetz's "overall concept"? I've been in some along I-81 in VA and I didn't notice that it was any different from any other convenience store.

Sheetz locations vary quite a bit based on the date of construction. Some older stores are small and don't seem very different from any other generic '80s neighborhood convenience store. Newer stores are also much larger, sometimes with high ceilings, drop lights, and bold decor. Some locations have added seating areas in an attempt to be kind of a hybrid fast food/convenience store/neighborhood hangout operation.

Their big point of differentiation for years has been the MTO fast food operation in the store–and even the older, smaller Sheetz locations I've seen have had it retrofitted. Touchscreen kiosks allow customers to create and customize items from an ever-expanding menu of sandwiches, wraps, bagels, burgers, hot dogs, and espresso drinks. Almost any topping is available on any item, and there's ridiculously large number of odd combinations you could create.

I'm sure that more convenience chains have added similar ordering setups in their own stores, but when I was introduced to Sheetz about 20 years ago, my previous experience with convenience store fast food was limited to the leather hot dogs on rollers and the premade sandwiches in plastic triangles. So at that time, Sheetz seemed like a revolution.

[jeffandnicole]

Sheetz you can find in Pennsylvania. Those aren't hard. There is still a ton in New England.

Wawa's are a little bit more scattered, and more hidden, but still rewarding if you find one.

You'll find hundreds of them in the 5 county Philly area.