Convenience-store and fuel retailer Wawa Inc. officially opened its first travel center on Thursday. Located in Hope Mills, North Carolina, in Cumberland County, it is the first of its kind chainwide and is designed to serve professional drivers, family travelers and local customers. The company is planning more travel centers, it said.
- Wawa is No. 10 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
Hundreds of customers, local officials and community partners joined Wawa on Aug. 28 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a “Hoagies for Heroes” hoagie-building competition honoring first responders.
“We’re thrilled to premier the new travel center format in Hope Mills,” said Brian Schaller, president of Wawa. “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.”
Fuel includes six high-speed diesel fuel lanes for professional tractor-trailer drivers, accepting over-the-road (OTR) payments, as well as 20 fuel spots for passenger drivers.
With more than 8,000 square feet of space, the travel center offers Wawa’s fresh food and beverage offer. The store will have interior and exterior seating areas and a large open design for the food and beverage area.
Other amenities include a CAT weigh station, free parking for tractor-trailers, well-appointed restrooms and a pet relief area.
Wawa's first travel center is in Cumberland County at 630 Chicken Foot Road in Hope Mills, North Carolina. | Wawa Inc.
The Hope Mills Travel Center marks Wawa’s 15th store in North Carolina. Over the next eight to 10 years, Wawa plans to build and open six to eight 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.
Wawa, based in Wawa, Pennsylvania, operates more than 1,100 c-stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington, D.C.
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