The program is the result of requests from customers and a shift in the auto industry toward making more cars and trucks that run on diesel, Turiano said. Wawa [image-nocss] sees its potential customer base in delivery drivers in small box trucks and owners of foreign luxury cars that run on diesel, he added.
It takes up to two weeks to change over the stations to diesel, said Turiano.
And while most Wawa stations are large enough to accommodate 18-wheel tractor-trailers, the company is not looking to attract trucking companies, said the report.
"We are not looking to appeal to tractor-trailers," Turiano said. "That is not the market we are trying to attract."
The stores will not prohibit the large trucks, the report said, but Wawa hopes that not appealing to that clientele will make the locations unattractive to them.
If the pilot is successful, all of the stores could add diesel pumps within two years, Turiano told the paper.
In other company news, a new Wawa opened October 15 in Towamencin, Pa., said The Reporter. Wawa president and CEO Howard Stoeckel welcomed the crowd to the company's 575th store. Members of the township's fire company defeated the police department in a hoagie making contest that raised $1,500 for charities chosen by each organization, said the report (click here to watch video from the event).The ceremony capped a nine-year process, Stoeckel told the newspaper. He said Wawa began talking with the Clemens Family Corp., which owns the four-acre parcel, in 2001.
Township supervisors insisted that the Super Wawa blend with the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center, said the report. Susan Bratton, Wawa's regional real estate manager, told the paper that the design compromises served the interest of the company, community and developer.
Wawa, Pa.-based Wawa Inc., a privately held company, operates more than 570 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
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