FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Florida—a hotbed of convenience-store development and competition—continues its love affair with Wawa, and vice versa. Florida Governor Rick Scott on Thursday celebrated the grand opening of three new Wawa convenience stores in the Fort Myers area, part of the chain’s expansion into the Sunshine State’s southwestern region.
The three new stores, as reported in CSP Daily News, will each create more than 40 new jobs, for a total of more than 120 new jobs in Southwest Florida. Since its entrance into Florida in July 2012, Wawa Inc. has opened 62 stores and created more than 2,000 jobs.
Click here for the governor’s comments at the event.
Earlier in the year, Scott met with Wawa’s CEO Chris Gheysens during a business development mission in Pennsylvania and announced the company’s 2015 expansion plans were ahead of schedule.
“We met with Wawa during our trip to Pennsylvania in February to share how we are creating an environment that helps businesses succeed, and we are proud that our efforts are working as Wawa is continuing to expand in our state,” said Scott. “By making Florida the best place to do business, we are helping job creators like Wawa build opportunities for families across the state. It is exciting to welcome Wawa into Southwest Florida and we look forward to seeing their continued success as they expand across our state.”
By the end of this year, Wawa will open 25 new convenience stores there. Next year, Wawa expects to break ground in Broward and Palm Beach counties and also hit the milestone of its 100th Florida store.
Wawa mascot Wally Goose, the governor, the CEO and a flock of other dignitaries celebrated the unprecedented opening of the three stores on the same day.
"We thought that would be a way to open here with a bang," Gheysens told The News-Press. "It'll be a whirlwind."
“Fort Myers Goes Gaga for Wawa,” the headline read.
“Fort Myers feels like a Wawa town. It means there's a density we like, there's growth," Gheysens said.
Click here or watch the celebration in the embedded News-Pressvideo below.
The newspaper asked its food critic, Jean Le Boeuf, to check out Wawa’s hoagies and other fare.
Click here to read his full “true-confessions” report, a series of tweets and photos titled “I binged on Wawa food.”
Wawa, Pa.-based Wawa Inc. is a chain of more than 680 convenience stores, 420 offering gasoline, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.
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