BALTIMORE -- Royal Farms, a convenience store chain based in Baltimore, is looking to expand in the Delaware Valley, an area long dominated by Wawa--as well as Sheetz and others--reported The Philadelphia Business Journal.
Royal Farms has 160 c-stores in Maryland, Delaware and eight in Pennsylvania, although they are mostly in the central part of the state.
The company chooses to expand into markets where it currently does not have a presence, Ed Stronksi, a spokesperson for Royal Farms, told the newspaper. He said it doesn't have a specific number of stores planned for the area, made up largely of the Philadelphia, Camden, N.J., and Wilmington, Del., markets.
"That will depend on opportunities that present themselves during our market research," Stronksi said.
It does have four stores already in the works in the area, Ryan McMahon told the paper. McMahon is president of Zommick McMahon Commercial Real Estate, which represents Royal Farms in its search for sites, said the report.
Royal Farms seeks out similar types of convenience store sites that Wawa would find attractive, said McMahon.
When it comes to differentiating Royal Farms from Wawa, which is well known for its coffee and hoagies, the company is quick to point to its "world-famous fresh, never frozen Royal Farms chicken," Stronksi said. "We hand bread our chicken right in our stores using our unique blend of spices."
Click here to view the full Philadelphia Business Journal report.
Wawa, Pa.-based Wawa Inc. has more than 650 convenience stores (approximately 400 offering gasoline) in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia and central Florida.
Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz Inc. operates more than 486 convenience stores throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.
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