ORLANDO, Fla. -- The first of five Wawa stores to be under construction before the year's end broke ground last week in Orlando, Fla., the Mid-Atlantic convenience retailer's first in the state of Florida. It unveiled a new look and store design during the groundbreaking ceremony for the "Wawaland" site, which is near SeaWorld, reported Orlando Attractions Magazine.
The Florida expansion reflects the company's growth philosophy. "You need to have a platform for growth, a platform for innovation, a way to get to the next level," CEO Howard Stoeckel said in a speech last week at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce's 13th annual Superstars in Business Luncheon, according to a report in the News Journal. "If you don't grow, you don't survive."
In Orlando, Wawa officials, members of Wawa's real-estate team and Wawa's mascots Wally Goose and Shorti, joined the site contractor, land developer and local community officials for the ground breaking, said the report.
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The other four Wawaland locations include another in Orlando, two in Kissimmee and one in Fairvilla. Wawa will celebrate the grand opening of the first Florida store on July 18, 2012, with four more stores opening within one month's time. Wawa plans to open 20 stores in 2013, 25 stores in 2014 and 25 stores in 2015, and projects that it will open 100 stores in the Orlando market in the next five years, the report added.
"We can't wait to make the Sunshine State our new home and are committed to filling a void in customer's lives and providing them the level of convenience and appetite appeal our customers have come to rely on us for," Todd Souders, Wawa's director for store operations in Florida, told the magazine.
The Florida expansion was in part driven by loyal customers who have migrated south, but who told the company that they "miss their Wawa." Stoeckel said in his Bird's Eye View blog in September 2010. "While we don't aspire to be a national company, we've decided that now the time has come for us to follow their lead and migrate south with them."
It is a willingness to heed market demands that has kept Wawa pointed in the right direction throughout its history, Stoeckel said in his speech.
The company started out two centuries ago as an iron manufacturing firm, then was a maker of cloth diapers before transforming itself into a dairy and finally into the regional convenience store giant it is today. "Times have changed, and we changed with them," he said. "Embracing change constantly is part of our DNA."
At the same time, Wawa has been careful not to tinker with some things. It will always be privately owned, and employees will always share in that ownership, he said. Company leaders will continue to view their role as servants to their workers, their communities and their customers, he said.
Since opening its first Delaware store 40 years ago, Wawa has shifted its model continuously. Fast food, gasoline and coffee have fueled success in recent times, and the years ahead look sure to bring more change.
The stores' line of fresh-made meals, recently bolstered by such specialties as prime rib and roast turkey sandwiches, will continue to be refined and improved, he said. Next year, the stores will begin offering espresso. Ultimately, the company aims to become the "world's most appetizing convenience retailer."
"Quality food, quality beverages will become more of a driver in our business," said Stoeckel.
And it aims to be in more places than ever. "You need to have a platform for growth, a platform for innovation, a way to get to the next level," he said. "If you don't grow, you don't survive."
The Wawa, Pa.-based company currently operates close to 600 c-stores in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.
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