Wawa, Inc. (/wɑːwɑː/ WAH-WAH) is an American chain of convenience stores and gas stations originating in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and located along the East Coast of the United States, operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, West Virginia and Georgia.

The company's corporate headquarters is located in the Wawa area of Chester Heights, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia.

[8] In 1890, George Wood, an entrepreneur from New Jersey,[12] moved to Delaware County, Pennsylvania; it was here that he began the Wawa Dairy Farm.

[12] Wood imported cows from the British Crown dependency island of Guernsey, and bought 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land in the Chester Heights area;[12] the corporate headquarters would later be renamed Wawa.

Wood arranged for doctors to certify his milk was sanitary and safe for consumption, which convinced many consumers to buy the product.

Because the company is privately held, Wawa secures an independent assessment of its stock value at regular intervals to ensure that the ESOP is fairly maintained.

The chain's name comes from the site of the company's first milk plant and corporate headquarters in the Wawa, Pennsylvania area.

[22] In 2015, Wawa ranked 34th on the Forbes magazine list of the largest private companies, with total revenues of $9.68 billion.

Cynthia Mayer of the Philadelphia Inquirer said that, as a result of the land holdings, the Wood family was "the closest thing to a feudal barony this side of du Pont.

Several years prior to 1989, the dairy sold 25 acres of land to a retirement complex, Granite Farms Estates.

As of 1989[update] Wawa Inc. leases it to Bill Faul, who maintained a herd of 100 Holstein cattle and paid $1,500 (currently $2778.12) per month.

It also kept heifers along Route 1 in a strip of land adjacent to the plant which did not produce milk; Fritz Schroeder, then-vice president of Wawa Inc., said in 1989, "[w]e like them for the ambiance.

[43][44] On April 16, 2014, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Wawa gave away free coffee and launched a nonprofit foundation to donate $50 million to health and hunger initiatives.

Key products include its variety of coffee, latte, and cappuccino flavors and sizes, and made-to-order hoagies.

[52] In 2022, Philadelphia magazine ranked the Gobbler, Wawa's seasonal Thanksgiving-themed hoagie, as the chain's best sandwich among 15 taste-tested.

[50] Wawa operates stores in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Wawa's territory once stretched into Northern New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, but in the late 1990s, the decision was made to abandon the franchised stores in the New York metropolitan area, as it was too competitive.

[citation needed] The abandoned stores were re-branded when they were sold to Krauszer's (in Connecticut) and a variety of other convenience retailers, but most are still recognizable as they retain their distinctive "Wawa" design.

[59] As of October 2020[update], Wawa has over 900 locations across Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Florida.

[61] Additionally, its Princeton University/Princeton train station store went viral on TikTok in 2023 for its "aesthetically pleasing" minimalist design.

The store, at 11,500 square feet (1,070 m2), is the largest Wawa location and features a living greenery wall, large digital screens, couches, café seating, and two "Philly Firsts" murals.

[67] The company also announced plans to open stores in the Florida Panhandle (including Panama City, Pensacola, and Tallahassee) and Mobile, Alabama in 2024.

[77] The character of the two chains has been described as, "Sheetz is typically louder and flashier, with a more intense vibe than Wawa's unassuming, plain and simple appearance.

"[78] Despite the rivalry, the two stores generally do not compete head-to-head in Pennsylvania, with only a few small overlapping areas in the eastern part of the state served by both chains.

Wawa's planned expansion into South Central Pennsylvania and North Carolina will see more head-to-head competition from both chains,[70] enough where Sheetz subsequently announced more store locations in Western Pennsylvania (where GetGo, 7-Eleven/Speedway, Circle K, and locally based Coen Markets are competitors) to fend off a potential expansion of Wawa into the Pittsburgh market.

[82] On December 20, 2019, Wawa's CEO Chris Gheysens announced that the company had found malicious software on its payment processing servers that affected every location across the country, according to the statement.

[86] On July 26, 2022, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced an $8 million agreement with Wawa to resolve the data breach.

In Coral Gables, Florida, land which was planned to be used for affordable housing was instead approved as a new site for a Wawa gas station.